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-MEMORIAL 

OF    TIIK  f 

I  (Zentonial  Qi^^ianizaliori  of  the  (/{nffcf 

The  State  of  New  Jersey. 


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MEMORIAL  ^-^^ 


OF    THE 


Centennial  of  the  Organization 


OF 


THE  CHURCH 


IN 


THE   STATE   OF   NEW   JERSEY. 


NEW    YORK: 
THOMAS    WHITTAKER, 

2    AND    3    BIBLE    HOUSE. 
1885. 


1755 


1555 


Christ  Church,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J., 

WHEItE  THE  FIEST  CONVENTION  OP  THE  CHUItCH  IN  THE  STATE 
OF  NEW  JERSEY  WAS  HELD. 


JOINT   COMMITTEE   ON   THE   CENTENNIAL. 

From  the  Diocese  of  New  Jersey. 

The  Rev.  B.  Franklin,  D.D.,  Mr.  James  Parker, 

The  Eev.  Charles  E.  Phelps,  Mr.  Howard  Eichards, 

The  Eev.  P.  Marion  McAllister,  Mr.  Eichard  S.  Conover, 

The  Eev.  T.  Logan  Muri^hj',  Mr.  Francis  Many. 

F)-om  the  Diocese  of  Northern  New  Jersey. 
The  Eev.  J.  Nicholas  Stansbury,  B.  D.,  Mr,  Henry  W.  Miller, 


The  Eev.  Horace  S.  Bishop, 
The  Eev.  John  F.  Butterworth, 


Mr.  P.  Edwards  Johnson, 
Mr.  Paul  Babcock. 


COMMITTEE   ON   THE   MEMOEIAL. 

The  Eev.  George  Morgan  Hills,  D.D.,  The  Eev.  William  H.  Neilson, 

Mr.  Clifford  Stanley  Sims. 


CEXTEN]SriAL 

OF    THE    ORGAJl^IZATION    OF 

THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  JERSEY. 


In  accordance  with  the  suggestion  of  the  Bishop  of  New 
Jersey  in  his  Episcopal  Address  of  1883,  with  reference  to 
"  marking  properly"  the  hnndredth  anniversary  of  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Clmrch  in  ~^e\v  Jersey,  and  in  pursuance  of  the 
plans  of  the  joint  committee  of  the  two  dioceses  now  in  the 
State,  the  Bishops  of  New  Jersey  and  Northern  New  Jersey, 
and  a  large  number  of  clergymen  and  laymen  from  both  dio- 
ceses, together  with  the  Bishop  of  Pittsburgh  and  other  invited 
guests,  assembled  May  5th,  1885,  in  Christ  Churcli,  New 
Brunswick,  where  a  century  ago  was  held  the  "  first  sitting" 
of  the  Convention. 

The  place,  the  day,  and  the  occasion  were  all  in  harmony. 
The  venerable  building  and  its  seemly  churchyard  tilled  with 
memorials  of  the  historic  dead  were  never  more  impressive. 

At  9  A.M.  there  was  a  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist, 
the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Scarborough,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  New  Jersey, 
being  celebrant,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  E.  M.  Rodman,  M.A., 
Dean  of  New  Brunswick,  and  the  Rev.  L.  II.  Lighthipe, 
M.A.,  of  Woodbridge. 

The  Rev.  E.  B.  Joyce,  S.T.B.,  Rector  of  Christ  Church, 
was  also  in  the  sanctuary,  and  the  music  was  rendered  by  the 
parish  choir. 

At  eleven  o'clock  there  was  a  second  celebration  of  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  the  music  being  Tours  in  F^  Mr,  Charles  W. 
Walker,  of  St.  John's  Church,  Elizabeth,  presiding  at  the 
organ.     The  procession  formed  in  the  parish  building,   and 


6  CENTEISTNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 

moved  through  the  churchyard,  entering  the  west  door  of  tlie 
nave.  First,  seventy  choristers,  in  cassocks  and  cottas,  men 
and  boys  selected  from  six  of  the  seven  wards  of  the  Choir 
Guild  of  the  diocese,  viz.,  St.  Mary's  Church,  Burlington  ; 
Christ  Church,  Elizabeth  ;  Christ  Church,  South  Amboy  ; 
Trinity  Church,  Princeton  ;  Christ  Church,  Bordentown  ; 
and  St.  James's  Church,  Long  Branch  ;  under  the  direction 
of  the  Eev.  H.  H.  Oberly,  M.A.,  Precentor  of  the  Guild  ; 
then,  all  the  vested  clergy  present,  several  of  whom  wore  their 
proper  hoods  ;  and,  lastly,  the  three  prelates  in  their  episcoi^al 
robes. 

The  processional  hymn  was,  "  Rejoice,  ye  pure  in 
heart,"  music  by  Messiter. 

The  Pvt.  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Starkey,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
Northern  New  Jersey,  was  celebrant,  the  Rt.  Rev.  (^^ortlandt 
Whitehead,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Pittsburgh,  epistoler,  and  the 
Rt.  Rev.  John  Scarborough,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  New  Jersey, 
gospeller.  There  were  also  in  the  sanctuary  the  Rev.  C.  C. 
Tiffany,  D.D.,  of  New  York,  representing  the  Assistant- 
Bisho})  of  that  diocese  ;  the  Rev,  George  Morgan  Hills,  D.D., 
Dean  of  Burlington  ;  the  Rev.  J.  Nicholas  Stansbury,  B.D., 
Dean  of  Newark  ;  the  Rev.  B.  Franklin,  D.D.,  Chairman  of 
Committee  of  Arrangements,  and  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Joyce, 
S.T.B.,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  New  Brunswick.  The 
Nicene  Creed  was  sung  in  monotone,  with  obligato  accompani- 
ment on  the  organ.  This  was  followed  l)y  the  hymn,  "  Glori- 
ous things  of  Thee  are  spoken,"  to  the  tune  of  Austria. 

The  sermon  was  by  the  Hqv.  J.  F.  Garrison,  M.D.,  D.D., 
of  Camden,  as  follows  : 

Genesis  32  :  10. — '"''  And  Jacob  said,  I  am  not  worthy 
of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies,  and  of  cdl  the  truth,  which 
thou  hast  showed  unto  thy  servant',  for  %Dith  my  staff  1 
2)assed  over  this  Jordan  •  and  noio  1  am  hecome  two  hands.'''' 

Thus  spake  the  ])atriarch  Jacob  as  he  came  back,  after 
long  years  of  toil  and  struggle,  and,  with  a  goodly  company  of 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JERSEY. 


flocks,  and  tents,  and  followers,  and  children,  stood  again 
beside  the  river  which  in  his  early  manhood,  going  out  from 
his  father's  house,  fearful  and  troubled,  he  had  passed  over, 
poor,  doubtful,  and  unattended,  with  his  staff  alone. 

So,  too,  though  in  a  far  different  sphere  and  with  a  far 
wider  meaning,  may  the  Church  in  New  Jersey  speak  of  her- 
self to-day. 

As  she  now  gathers,  in  this  large  and  impressive  assembly, 
her  clergy  and  laity  from  every  portion  of  the  State,  with  her 
two  noble  sister  dioceses,  their  more  than  two  hundred  par- 
ishes, their  large  and  rapidly-increasing  influence  and  com- 
munion, and  looks  back  through  the  century  since  her  first 
organization  in  this  State  to  the  poor,  weak,  burdened  handful 
who  "Were  scarce  able  in  those  struggling  years  to  keep  her 
services  alive,  she,  with  devout  thanksgiving,  yet  in  a  spirit  of 
humility,  may  truly  say,  "  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all 
the  mercies,  and  of  all  the  truth,  which  thou  hast  showed  unto 
thy  servant  ;  for  with  my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan  ;  and 
now  I  am  become  two  bands." 

One  hundred  years  ago,  on  July  6th,  1T85,  three  clergy- 
men and  lay  deputies  from  eight  parishes  met  in  this  city,  in 
this  venerable  church,  and  organized  the  first  regular  conven- 
tion of  the  "  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey. ' ' 

Its  president  was  the  Rev.  Abraham  Beach,  who  at  this 
time  was  the  assistant-minister  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York, 
but  who  had  been  the  missionary  and  rector  of  Christ  Churcli, 
New  Brunswick,  from  September,  1767,  until  the  previous 
year,  1784,  when  he  transferred  his  labors  to  New  York,  but 
continued  to  maintain,  for  several  years  after,  his  connection 
with  the  Convention  of  New  Jersey,  and  with  this,  the  parish 
of  his  first  ministerial  service  and  his  life-long  love. 

This  Convention  of  1785  was  the  first  of  that  long  series 
which,  in  the  one  hundred  and  thirteenth  meeting  of  the  orig- 
inal, and  the  eleventh  of  the  younger  diocese,  has  met  for  the 
centennial  commemoration  of  to-day  ;  and  from  it  the  Church 


8  CEISTTEISTNIAL   OF   THE   OEGAISTIZATIOTST   OF 

in  New  Jersey  dates  tlie  beginning  of  her  diocesan  history  and 
of  tlie  exercise  of  her  privileges  as  a  self-governing  branch  of 
the  one  Catholic  Chnrch, 

This  same  year,  1785,  is  equally  memorable  also  to  us  in 
the  larger  movements  for  the  national  organization  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States. 

The  constitution  and  standards  of  the  National  Church 
were  not  finally  established  until  four  years  after,  in  1789, 
but  the  work  was  begun  in  1785,  and  the  centennial  of  the 
decisive  event  in  which  the  organization  of  the  "Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States"  had  its  actual  com- 
mencement dates  from  a  convention  held  in  Christ  Church, 
Philadelphia,  from  September  27th  to  October  7th,  1785. 

This  was  a  meeting  of  deputies  (seventeen  clerical  and 
twenty-six  lay),  sent  by  "  the  Church"  in  each  of  the  several 
States  which  were  willing  to  take  part  in  it,  and  it  called  itself 
"  a  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
States  of  JS  ew  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Yirginia,  and  South  Carolina." 

The  general  principles  on  which  the  churches  could  be 
united  took  here  a  definite  shape,  and  the  work  of  bringing 
this  "  to  good  effect"  went  on  continuously  from  this  begin- 
ning ;  but  this  meeting  was  not  itself  a  mere  spontaneous 
gathering  :  it  had  come  together  in  answer  to  a  call  prepared 
in  two  consultations  of  clergy  and  laymen  held  in  the  previous 
year,  1784.  The  first  of  these  was  on  May  11th,  1784.  This 
had  its  origin  in  the  suggestions  and  efforts  of  the  then  rector 
of  this  parish,  Rev.  Dr.  Beach,  and  was  held,  in  accordance 
with  his  arrangements,  in  this  city.  And,  as  was  eminently 
fitting,  this  event,  which  exercised  so  great  an  influence  on  the 
future  of  the  Church  in  both  the  nation  and  the  State,  was 
commemorated  last  year,  at  the  request  of  our  bishops,  in  our 
diocesan  conventions  and  most  of  the  parishes  throughout  the 
State.  But  the  object  of  these  meetings  of  1784  was  only 
preparatory  and  suggestive  ;  the  work  of  organizing  the 
churches  in  the  separate  States  as  one  in  the  Church  of  the 


THE   CHUECH   IN   NEW   JEESEY. 


United  States,  was  really  begnn  in  tlie  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion of  1785  ;  and  the  centennial  of  the  present  year  thus  calls 
back  to  ns  not  only  the  "  hundred  years  ago"  of  the  Church 
in  New  Jersey,  but  also  the  wider  range  and  more  important 
interests  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States. 

The  movements  for  ecclesiastical  organization,  l)oth  local 
and  general,  which  mark  this  period,  were  made  necessary  by 
the  conditions  in  wiiicli  the  Church  in  this  country  found 
itself  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  and  by  the  mode  in  which 
its  affairs  had  been  conducted  during  the  previous  century  or 
more  of  its  colonial  government.  Ifence,  if  we  desire  to  un- 
derstand the  work  on  which  the  Church  was  entering  in  1785, 
or  the  character  of  the  new  era  of  its  history  which  was  pre- 
pared for  by  this  work,  we  must  recall  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant relations  of  the  Church,  both  at  the  termination  of  the 
War  of  Independence  and  during  its  earlier  existence  in  the 
colonies. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  for  us,  after  a  hundred  years  of 
the  ever-deepening  sense  of  nationality  and  union,  to  realize 
how  utterly  the  colonies  on  this  continent  were  separate  and 
independent  of  each  other  during  almost  the  whole  of  their 
colonial  history. 

They  were  diverse  in  their  several  forms  of  government, 
unlike  in  the  character  of  their  settlers  and  in  the  principles 
and  purposes  that  moulded  their  legislation.  And  upon  several 
matters,  some  of  very  considerable  importance,  their  interests 
came  strongly  into  conflict ;  and  on  these  the  feelings  of  the 
respective  communities  were  not  only  opposed,  but  often 
bitterly  antagonistic. 

The  subject  on  which  these  antagonisms  were  the  most 
intense  and  lasting  was  the  difference  of  the  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tions and  the  religious  characteristics  of  the  various  provinces. 

The  New  England  colonics  were  composed  of  Puritans, 
who  had  left  England  because  of  the  harsh  measures  of  its 
government  and  Church  against  the  Non-Conformists,  and  had 
come  to  America  for  the  double  purpose  of  exercising  their 


10  CEl^TENlSriAL   OF   THE   ORGAIS^IZATIOIS^   OF 


own  mode  of  worship  undisturbed  and  establishing  common- 
wealths which  should  be  free  from  the  intrusion  of  any  wor- 
ship that  was  not  agreeable  to  their  opinions. 

Hence  they  provided,  as  a  fundamental  principle  in  their 
legislation,  for  the  summary  expulsion  of  all  who  had  any 
taint  of  false  doctrine,  of  whatever  sort  it  might  be,  and  with 
quite  impartial  determination  drove  out,  under  manifold  pains 
and  penalties,  the  dreaded  Papist,  the  levelling  Quaker,  the 
abhorred  Anabaptist,  and — what,  perhaps,  they  loathed  more 
than  any  others — the  pampered  and  corrupted  Formalist  of  the 
hated  old  Church  of  England,  from  whose  oppressions  they 
had  fled  as  voluntary  exiles  to  this  far-off  land. 

The  Holland  Dutch  around  New  York  and  in  ISIorth 
Jersey  showed  a  less  active  hostility  to  the  Church  of  England, 
but  they  were  quite  as  averse  from  its  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion, and  quite  as  ready  to  opi^ose  it  in  the  exercise  of  any 
special  privileges  which  it  might  happen  at  any  tim3  to  ob- 
tain from  the  favor  of  the  royal  authorities,  or  the  Acts  of 
the  Colonial  Assembly. 

The  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  and  Southern  Jersey,  under 
the  garb  of  a  placid  and  unwarlike  passivity,  were  yet  intensely 
hostile  to  the  Church,  and  opposed  its  growth  among  them 
as  determinedly  as  the  most  violent  Puritan  of  Connecticut  or 
Boston. 

Hence  throughout  the  northern  provinces  the  Church  of 
England,  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the  colonial  period, 
was  a  nullity  as  to  real  power,  and  at  the  same  time  was  both 
hated  and  feared  by  a  very  large  number  in  almost  every  com- 
munity. 

There  was  somewhat  of  a  change  in  the  relations  of  these 
northern  colonies  to  the  Church  after  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Earnest  and  painful  representations  of 
the   spiritual   condition*    and   needs  of   many   parts  of  the 


*  "  So  plain  had  become  tlie  features  of  moral  and  religious  evil  in  our 
transatlantic  colonies   at   tlie  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,   that  the 


THE   CHURCH   IIST  NEW   JERSEY.  11 

colonies  bad  awakened  an  interest  in  a  large  number  of  tbe 
clergy  and  laity  of  tbe  Cburcb  in  England,  and  in  1701  tbese 
organized  tbe  venerable  "  Socfety  for  tbe  Propagation  of  tbe 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts." 

Tbis  society  entered  at  once,  witb  zeal  and  witb  admirable 
wisdom,  on  tlie  work  of  providing  suitable  ministers  for  botb 
tbe  native  inbabitants  and  tbe  Englisb  sett.lers  in  America. 
Some  of  tbeir  missionaries  were  sent  to  Nortb  and  Soutb 
Carolina,  but  tbe  greater  part  located  tbemselves  in  tbe  Middle 
and  Nortbern  jDrovinces  ;  and  so  "wisely  were  most  of  tbese 
ministers  cbosen  tlirougbout  all  tbese  colonies,  tbat  wberever 
tbey  establisbed  a  congregation  it  very  soon  made  its  impres- 
sion, and  in  lialf  a  century  tbe  Cburcb  bad  attained  a  largely- 
increased  consideration  and  influence  in  all  tbose  portions  of 
tbe  Nortbern  provinces  wbicli  bad  come  in  tbe  range  of  tbe 
missions  of  tbis  society. 

But  notwitbstanding  tbis  improvement,  tbere  was  in  all 
tbis  region,  from  tbe  Potomac  to  tbe  St.  Lawrence,  only  a  bare 
bandful  of  tbe  clergy  of  tbe  Cburcb.*  Tbese  were  mainly  in 
tbe  large  towns  or  tbeir  immediate  neigbborbood,  wliile  among 
tbe  general  population  of  tbe  country  it  was  looked  on  ratber 
as  an  intruder  from  outside  tban  as  a  part  of  tbemselves,  and 
tbe  Englisb  Cburcb  in  many  parts  of  tbe  nortbern  colonies 
was  bardly  more  acceptable  tlirougbout  all  tbis  period  to  tbe 
popular  sentiment  tban  tbe  Puritans  and  Quakers  tbemselves 
bad  formerly  been  to  tbe  feelings  of  tbe  Cburcbmen  in  Eng- 
land. 

Tbe  relations  of  tbe  Cburcb  in  tbe  soutbern  colonies  were 
widely  different  to  tbis.  In  most  of  tbem  it  bad  been,  from  a 
very  early  date,  establisbed  by  law.     It  was  in  some  tbe  only 


slightest  observation  of  them  at  once  startled  good  men  at  home  and  led 
them  to  immediate  action." — History  of  the  American  Church,  by  Wilberforce, 
eh.  iv.,  p.  73. 

*  "To  the  north  and  east  of  Maryland  there  were,  in  1729,  but  eight}- 
parochial  clergymen." — History  of  the  American  Cliurch,  Wilberforce,  ch.  iv., 
p.  103. 


12  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OEGAlSriZATIOlSr   OF 


form  of  religion  legally  authorized  or  generally  known  among 
their  people.*  The  first  emigrants  to  A^rginia  had  brought  a 
minister  of  the  Church  of  England  with  them  as  chaplain  to 
their  little  company.  A  devout  and  truly  wise  man,  too,  he 
proved  himself  to  be  in  more  than  one  terrible  emergency, 
and  they  consecrated  themselves  and  the  settlement  they  had 
come  to  make  in  the  new  world  by  a  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Communion  on  the  day  after  tlieir  landing.  May  14th,  1G07. 

When  the  affairs  of  this  colony  became  so  assured  as  to 
admit  of  definite  legislation,  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
province,  among  its  earliest  acts  in  1619,  established  by  law 
the  doctrine  and  worship  of  the  Church  of  England  as  the  only 
religion  that  was  legally  authorized  within  its  limits  ;  and  such 
statutes  as  were  necessary  to  sustain  and  enforce  it  as  the  State 
religion  were  passed  by  succeeding  assemblies.  The  territory 
of  the  province  was  divided  into  parishes  ;  stipends  and  glebes 
were  apportioned  for  the  support  of  the  clergy  ;  taxes  were 
assessed  on  all  the  people  for  the  payment  of  these  stipends 
and  the  erection  of  churches  ;  it  v/as  enacted  "  that  all  minis- 
ters whatsoever  were  to  be  conformable  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  the  laws  therein  established,  .  .  .  and  not  otherwise 
to  be  admitted  to  teach  publickly  or  privately,  and  that  the 
ISTon- Conformists  should,  on  due  notice,  be  compelled  to  de- 
part from  the  colony  with  all  convenience,"  f  and  the  Bishop 


*  So  late  as  1750,  we  are  told  by  a  writer  from  Virginia  (Hanover), 
"  there  were  not  above  four  or  five  Dissenters  within  one  hundred  miles  of 
this  place  till  about  six  years  ago."  A  few  years  before  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don had  written  to  the  clergy  of  this  province  "  that  none  be  suffered  by 
the  governor  to  officiate  but  those  who  are  episcopallj'  ordained  ;"  and  so 
effectually  was  this  enforced  for  a  time  that  another  bishop  of  London  says, 
in  1759,  "  Until  a  few  j'ears  past  ...  all  were  members  of  the  Church,  and 
there  were  no  Dissenters  among  them." — Virginia  Historical  C'olleciions, 
pp.  201,  3GS,  461. 

f  Anderson's  Church  in  the  Colonies,  vol.  ii.,  p.  8.  A  law  was  also  passed 
in  1629  requiring  "  that  all  the  peoi^le  do  repaire  regularly  to  their  churches 
on  the  Saboth  day,  and  that  one  pound  of  Tobacco  be  paid  for  every  ab- 
sence, and  50  pounds  of  Tobacco  for  every  month's  absence  sett  down  in 


THE   CHUECII   IlSr   NEW  JERSEY.  13 

of  London  was  applied  to  "to  find  for  them  a  body  of  pious, 
learned,  and  painful  ministers."  * 

The  connection  thus  established  with  the  Bishop  of 
London  was  soon  extended,  though  in  a  vague  and  informal 
relation,  to  the  churches  in  all  the  other  colonies,!  and  what- 
ever of  Episcopal  jurisdiction  or  discipline  was  exercised  over 
these  churches  came  to  be  regarded  as  vested  in  the  bishop, 
for  the  time  being,  of  that  see.  But  the  authority  of  a  bishop 
so  i-emote  and  with  power  so  undefined  was  wholly  ineffective 
for  the  proper  guidance  and  control  of  the  Church  under  the 
new  and  complex  conditions  of  these  far-off  and  unregulated 
communities.  And  it  was  but  a  short  time  till  the  Church, 
in  even  the  most  loyal  of  the  colonies,  was  suffering  in  every 
interest  from  this  lack  of  the  head,  which  was  both  essential 
to  its  completion  as  a  divine  organization  and  vitally  necessary 
to  its  efficient  government  and  discipline. 

The  position  of  the  Church  of  England  in  those  provinces 
where  it  was  the  established  mode  of  worship  M'as,  in  many 
respects,  very  disastrous  to  its  spiritual  welfare.  The  great 
body  of  the  people,  even  when  strongly  attached  to  the  ritual 
and  teachings  of  the  Church,  did  not  intend  to  have  their 
churches  so  connected  with  the  State  as  to  make  them  avail- 
able for  the  increase  of  royal  or  parliamentary  authority  in 
their  colonial  affairs.  Hence,  as  early  as  1642,  the  General 
Assembly  of  Yirginia  :{;  declined  to  allow  the  governor  or 
Bishop  of  London  the  right  of  "  presentation  and  induction  of 
ministers"  to  the  parishes  in  which  they  were  to  serve,  but 
placed  this  with  the  vestry  of  the  respective  congregations. 


the  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1G23."  This  was  amended  in  1631  to 
impose  "  one  shilling  for  every  tyme  of  absence  from  church,  having  no 
lawful  or  reasonable  excuse  to  be  absent." — Andeison,  vol.  1,  p.  -IGl  ;  Wil- 
herforce,  ch.  2. 

*  Wilberforce's  History  of  the  Church  in  America,  ch.  2. 

I  Vinton's  Canon  Law,  p.  7. 

■j;,  Wilberforce's  History  :  Historical  Collections  of  Virginia.  Ander- 
son's Church  in  the  Colonies. 


14  CENTElSriSriAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATIOlSr   OF 


So,  too,  tlie  collection  and  payment  of  the  taxes  for  the 
stij)end  of  the  rector  was  given  to  the  officers  of  each  sev- 
eral parish,  and  not  appropriated  from  a  general  State 
fund. 

These  salaries  were  paid  originally  in  tohacco,  each  inhabi- 
tant contributing  a  certain  quota.  "When  there  was  no  minis- 
ter the  tax  was  not  collected,  or  was  considerably  lightened  ; 
hence  there  was  a  constant  tendency  to  leave  the  rectorship 
vacant  whenever  and  as  long  as  possible,  and  the  vestries  soon 
became  very  ready,  many  of  them,  to  find  causes  on  which 
they  might  dismiss  their  minister,  or  make  his  jjosition  so  un- 
happy that  he  could  not  remain.  After  a  while  the  perma- 
nent, legal  induction  of  life-long  rectors  was  almost  universally 
disused,  and  a  minister  was  simply  hired  for  a  year,  or  even 
for  a  shorter  time  ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  this  term  of  service 
either  he  was  discharged  or  continued  for  another  temporary 
engagement  on  a  like  uncertain  tenure.  "  So  that,"  as  one 
of  their  own  number  writes  concerning  this,  "  it  comes  to  pass 
that  they  are  kept  in  miserably  precarious  circumstances,  like' 
domestic  servants,  ready  to  be  turned  off  at  pleasure,  which 
makes  the  better  sort  leave  the  country,  and  the  rest  so 
obsequious  that  they  are  ready  to  do  whatever  may  be  neces- 
sary to  retain  their  places."  * 

But  it  was  not  the  laity  alone  who  were  responsible  for 
this  unhappy  condition  of  affairs.  Many  of  the  clergy 
throughout  the  colony  were  men  of  most  devoted  piety  and 
self-denying  labor,  and  no  portion  of  the  Christian  world  has 
seen  more  beautiful  examples  of  patriarchal  religion  than  in 
the  life-long  worship  together  of  the  minister  and  j>eople  in 
many  of  the  unknown  and  quiet  little  colonial  parishes  of  the 
"  Old  Dominion." 


*  Historical  Collections,  Virginia,  p.  132.  Another  writes  :  "  The 
people  in  general  are  averse  to  the  induction  of  the  clergy."  "  Very  few- 
are  inducted,  but  are  kept  on  agreements  with  the  vestries  under  precarious 
circumstances,"  pp.  250-255.     And  like  complaints  occur  continually. 


THE   CHURCH   IN  NEW  JERSEY.  15 

But,  besides  these,  there  were,  most  unfortunately,  among 
the  clergy  who  were  sent  or  voluntarily  came  over  to  the  colony, 
a  very  considerable  number  who  were  utterly  nnsuited  for 
their  place,  and  many  wholly  unworthy  of  their  office.  Some 
were  men  of  broken  character  or  who  had  failed  at  home,  and 
who  had  obtained  a  license  to  preach  in  the  colonies  from  the 
ignorance  or  incautiousness  of  the  Bishop  of  London  or  the 
"  home  council  "  of  the  province.  Still  more,  j)erha2)s,  on 
coming  into  these  remote  and  as  yet  unsettled  communities, 
felt  themselves  freed  from  the  restraining  influences  of  their 
former  lives,  and  yielding  to  the  temptations  of  their  present 
condition,  fell  into  bad  habits,  and  in  many  cases  came  to  be 
regarded  as  notorious  evil-livers.* 

The  absence  of  all  episcopal  authority  made  the  discipline 
of  the  clergy,  however  great  this  need,  almost  impossible. 
The  ecclesiastical  authorities  in  England  applied  the  only 
palliative  that  could  be  devnsed  under  the  circumstances.  The 
Bishop  of  London  appointed  and  sent  over  a  commissary  to 
represent  him,  so  far  as  possible,  in  his  executive  capacity. 
An  officer  of  this  kind  was  also  appointed  in  certain  other  of 
the  colonies,  and  in  one  form  or  another  was  continued  until 
the  Bevolution.  But  as  the  commissary  had  no  coercive 
powers — in  fact,  no  legal  authority  at  all — the  most  that  he 
could  do  was  to  give  the  weight  of  his  title  and  the  influence 
of  his  character  to  the  partial  mitigation  of  these  manifold 
disorders.  And  the  longer  this  ungoverned  condition  of  the 
Church  continued,  the  more  deeply  did  all  its  best  interests 
suffer,  and  the  more  difficult  the  remedy.     The  reproach  that 


*  Virginia  Historical  Collections,  passim.  Wilberforce's  Hist.,  ch.  iv. 
Rev.  Dr.  Chandler,  of  Elizabeth,  in  this  State,  writes  to  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson 
of  the  condition  of  Maryland  in  1762  :  "  Of  about  forty-five  clergy  in  the 
province,  five  or  six  are  of  good  character,  whose  names  should  be  men- 
tioned with  honor  ;  but  to  hear  the  character  of  the  rest  from  the  inhabi- 
tants would  make  the  ears  of  a  sober  heathen  tingle.  You  may  be  sure  they 
are  much  averse  to  having  an  American  episcopate." — Life  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
p.  311. 


16  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OKGANIZATION   OF 


liad  been  brought  upon  the  clergy  by  the  ill-conduct  of  so 
many  who  claimed  that  title  had,  of  course,  produced  among 
the  laity  a  corresponding  loss  of  respect  for  the  clerical  office,* 
and  a  growing  susj)icion  of  those  by  whom  it  was  represented  ; 
this  concurred  very  fatally  with  their  tendency  to  regard  the 
connection  of  minister  and  people  as  one  dependent  wholly  on 
the  pleasure  or  pecuniary  interest  of  their  parishioners,  and 
not  only  did  they  continue  merely  to  hire  their  clergy  from 
year  to  year,  or  even  a  shorter  period,  but  the  custom  began 
and  spread  very  rapidly  of  employing  f  at  a  cheap  rate  lay 
readers  for  a  time,  and  in  some  cases  almost  continuously, 
instead  of  settling  a  rector.  Thus  the  taxpayers  were  enabled 
to  relieve  themselves  of  the  heavier  burden  of  the  stipend  of 
the  minister,  and  at  the  same  time  to  provide  for  maintaining 
the  services  they  might  desire  to  have,  or  were  required  to 
keep  up  by  the  law,  but  with  the  necessary  consequence  of 
most  serious  evils  to  the  Church,  and  a  still  further  lowering 
of  the  character  and  influence  of  the  clergy. 

A  number  of  these  lay  readers  seem,  little  by  little,  to 
have  acquired  a  sort  of  half-ministerial  character,  and  we  find 
them  assuming  and  exercising  the  right  to  officiate  whenever 
the  occasion  should  call  for  their  services.  One  of  the  writers 
of  this  period  says  :  "  Laymen  are  allowed  to  usurp  the  office 
of  ministers,  and  deacons  to  thrust  out  presbyters — in  a  word, 
all  things  are  left  to  the  mercy  of  the  people."  Another 
reports  that  "  of  fifty  parishes  there  are  only  twenty-two 
that  have  ministers,":};  while  a  third  complains    that  "two 

*  ' '  Such  are  the  defects  of  duty,  love,  esteem,  and  union  mutually 
between  ministers  and  people,  that  it  can  be  truly  said  they  have  preachers 
rather  than  pastors  in  these  parts." — Virginia  Hist.  Collections,  p.  332.  "  The 
gentlemen  of  the  General  Assembly  are  averse  from  doing  anything  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  clergy,"  p.  310. 

■j-  Wilberforce,  ch.  iv. :  "  The  lack  of  clergy  led  to  the  general  employ- 
ment of  lay-readers,  and  it  happened  frequently  that  the  benefice  was  kept 
unfilled  in  order  to  prolong  the  more  acceptable  services  of  the  unordained 
reader." 

J  Anderson's  History  of  the  Church  in  the  Colonies,  vol.  ii.,  p.  351. 


THE   CHURCH   liN^   :XEW   JERSEY.  17 

thirds  of  the  preachers  are  the  leaden  lay  priests  of  the  ves- 
tries' ordination,  and  are  both  a  shame  and  a  grief  to  the 
rightly-ordained  clergy." 

As  the  social  condition  of  the  provinces  hecanie  more 
settled  and  orderly,  many  of  these  evils  were  gi'eatly  dimin- 
ished, but  their  influence  continued  to  affect  those  portions  of 
the  Church  where  they  had  prevailed,  more  or  less  strongly, 
throughout  the  entire  colonial  period. 

We  have  seen  that  the  churches  in  the  northern  provinces 
were  utterly  unlike  those  of  the  south  in  their  external  rela- 
tions ;  this  was  accompanied  by  an  equally  marked  difference 
in  their  internal  character  and  tendencies.  The  clergy  in  the 
northern  churches  had  been  sent  out,  and  were  wholly,  or  in 
large  part,  maintained  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel.  Some  of  them  had  come  at  the  recpiest  of  tlie 
small  bands  of  loving  Churchmen  scattered  here  and  there  in 
the  midst  of  hostile  Quakers  or  Puritans  ;  others  had  been 
appointed  as  missionaries  to  portions  of  the  country  which 
were  without  any  religious  teaching,  and  in  some  instances 
in  almost  heathenish  spiritual  destitution. 

The  men  thus  employed  were  under  the  immediate  eye 
and  control  of  the  society,  were  in  constant  relations,  by 
reports  and  correspondence,  with  the  officers  and  bishops  of 
the  home  association,  and,  from  the  very  necessities  of  their 
position,  must  have  been  generally  such  men  as  were  able, 
l)Oth  from  their  character  and  acquirements,  to  present  the 
Church  in  favorable  contrast  to  those  around  them,  else  they 
would  not  continue  long  to  maintain  any  place  or  influence  at 
all  in  the  community.  As  another  consequence  also  of  their 
]iosition,  they  were  mostly  very  strong  in  their  churchmanship, 


The  letters  in  the  Virginia  Historiccal  Collections  abonnd  with  complaints 
hy  the  clergy  of  insults,  annoyances,  and  even  personal  violence  from  par- 
ishioners, and  sometimes  from  the  governors  and  other  persons  high  in 
authority  in  the  colonj'. 
2 


18  CENTEJS^NIAL   OF   THE   OEGANIZATIOIS-   OF 

and  regarded  tlie  presence  and  action  of  a  resident  bisliop  as 
not  only  a  necessity  for  the  unity  and  effective  government  of 
the  Church,  but  as  a  vitally  essential  element  of  its  organiza- 
tion as  a  branch  of  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  American  con- 
tinent. 

The  province  of  New  Jersey  was  among  the  first  which 
came  under  the  influence  of  the  ministers  of  the  Propagation 
Society,  and  its  condition  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  shows  a  lamentable  need  for  the  work  of  their  mission- 
aries. Its  people  were  regarded  by  the  English  authorities  * 
as  among  the  most  unruly  and  defiant  of  royal  control  of  any 
in  the  colonies,  and  they  seem  to  hav^e  been  equally  unre- 
strained by  religion  or  morality. 

Colonel  Lewis  Morris,  afterward  governor  of  the  colony, 
writes  of  West  Jersey  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  in  1700  :  f 
"  They  have  a  very  debaucht  youth  in  tbat  province,  and  very 
ignorant  ;"  and,  speaking  of  Pennsylvania,  he  says  :  "  The 
youth  of  that  country  are  like  those  of  the  neighboring  prov- 
ince, very  debancht  and  ignorant."  He  reports  also  of  the 
condition  of  a  more  northern  part  of  the  colony  :  :J:  "  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  church  or  religion  among  them  ;  they  are 
perhaps  the  most  ignorant  and  wicked  people  in  the  world." 
One  of  the  missionaries  of  the  society  writes  home  a  cou])le  of 
years  later, §  in  1702,  and  says  :  "  There  is  not  one  Church  of 
England  yet  in  either  AVest  or  East  Jersey,  the  more  is  the 
pity  ;  and,  except  in  two  or  three  towns,  there  is  no  face  of 
any  public  worship  of  any  sort,  but  people  live  very  mean, 


*  New  Jersey  Colonial  Documents,  Sussex  Centennial  :  Address  of 
llev.  J.  F.  Tuttle.     Address  of  Benjamin  B.  Edsall. 

f  Discourse  of  Kev.  J.  F.  Tuttle  at  the  Sussex  Centennial,  1853,  p.  80. 
Another  writer  "  represents  them  to  the  home  government  as  being  without 
law  and  gospel,  having  neither  judge  nor  jDriest, "  p.  77. 

I  History  of  Christ  Church,  Shrewsburj-,  Journal  New  Jei'sey  Conven- 
tion, 1847,  p.  39. 

§  Memorial  of  Rev.  Mr,  Keith,  in  Eev.  Dr.  George  Morgan  Hills' 
History  of  the  Church  in  Burlington,  p.  19. 


THE    CIIUllCH    IN    NEW   JERSEY.  19 

like  Indians."  And  a  sliort  time  after  this  another  missionary 
reports  to  the  secretary  of  the  society  :  *  "  No\'a  Cieserea,  or 
New  Jersey,  has  been  most  unhappy  ;  there  is  not,  nor  ever 
was,  an  orthodox  minister  settled  among  them."  "  All  sorts 
of  heatliens  and  heretics  superabound  in  these  parts.  Africa 
has  not  more  monsters  than  America." 

The  missionaries  above  referred  to  were  Rev.  Georp-e 
Keith,  who  was  the  lirst  f  missionary  appointed  by  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  Rev.  John  Talbot. 
They  began  their  labors  here  together  in  1702,  and  were  the 
planters  and  first  master  builders  of  the  Church  in  New 
Jersey.  Mr.  Talbot  soon  became  settled  in  Burlington  as  its 
first  rector,  and  on  March  25th,  1703,  laid  the  corner-stone,:}: 
and  commenced  the  building  of  the  old  Church  of  St.  Mary 
in  that  town. 

He  was  from  the  beginning  of  his  work  continuously 
urgent  to  have  a  bishop  sent  out  to  the  colonies,  and  at  length, 
in  his  profound  conviction  of  the  necessity  for  some  episcopal 
ministration  in  this  country,  lie  received  consecration  himself 
as  bishop  at  the  hands  of  the  Non-Jurors  §  in  England,  The 
act  was  unwise,  nor  could  he  ever  njake  any  effective  use  of 
his  office  iu  the  colonies  ;  but  in  his  personal  influence  and 
untiring,  self-denying  work,  he  has  earned  the  gratitude  of  the 
Church  in  this  State  for  all  after-time,  and  fully  merits  the 
praise  of  the  late  Dr.  Hawks  "  that  the  society  never  had,  at 
least  in  our  view,  a  more  honest,  fearless,  and  laborious  mis- 
sionary." II 

Rev.  George  Iveith  had  been  in  early  life  a  stanch 
defender  of  an  orthodox  theology  among  the  Quakers,  but  in 
1700  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, and   by   his   zeal   and   indefatigable   labors  not  only  es- 

*  Eev.  John  Talbot,  in  Hills'  History  of  the  Church  in  Burlington,  p.  54. 
f  Hills,  p.  20. 

I  Hills'  History  of  the  Church  in  Burlington,  pp.  33,  3G,  42'J. 

§  Hills,  p.  1G8.     Wilberforce,  p.  123.     Anderson,  vol.  iii.,  p.  240. 

II  Quoted   in  Hills'  History  of  the  Church  in  Bi;rlington,  p.  .212. 


20  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 


tablislied  the  Cbnrcli  in  many  places  in  New  Jersey,  but  left 
with  it  his  impress  in  that  clear  and  earnest  chnrchmanship 
which  it  has  continned,  throngh  all  the  varied  phases  of  its 
history,  to  retain. 

The  clergy  of  the  Chnrch  in  New  Jersey  thus,  nnder  the 
influence  of  the  Propagation  Society  and  in  common  with 
those  of  all  the  northern  provinces,  were  zealous  for  the  estab- 
lishment among  them  of  a  colonial  or  suifragan  bishop.  And 
so  urgent  was  the  need  for  one  in  every  portion  of  the  coun- 
try, that  scarcely  a  packet  left  America  that  did  not  carry  out, 
from  both  the  north  and  tlie  south,  earnest  and  powerful 
appeals  for  the  settlement  of  a  bishop,  or  some  provision  for 
the  personal  exercise  of  episcopal  authority  in  one  or  another 
of  the  colonies. 

It  would  seem,  on  a  mere  statement  of  the  condition  and 
necessities  of  the  colonial  churches,  that  a  claim  so  reasonable, 
so  inherent  in  the  very  constitution  of  the  Church,  should  have 
been  immediately  granted  ;  and  yet  so  complex  were  the  rela- 
tions and  interests  of  the  several  parties,  that  the  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  an  American  episcopate  before  the  independence 
of  the  States  were  practically  insuperable  ;  and,  strangely 
enough,  the  difficulties  came,  equally  from  the  mother  country 
and  tlie  colonies,  from  the  position  of  the  Churchmen  and  the 
feelings  of  those  opposed  to  the  Church. 

The  American  provinces  had  scarcely  begun  their  history 
as  permanent  communities  Mdien  the  feuds  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, followed  by  the  domination  of  Cromwell,  rendered  any 
favor  to  the  Church  in  the  New  "World  utterly  hopeless.  The 
Church  in  England  was  itself  deprived  of  its  place  and  all  its 
privileges,  and  the  most  it  could  expect  in  any  colony  was  to 
be  allowed  toleration  at  the  pleasure  and  w^ill  of  the  hostile 
home  government. 

After  the  Restoration  Charles  II.  and  James  II.  were 
both  really  Papists,  and  were  persistently  opposed  to  any 
measures  that  might  enable  the  Anglican  bishops  to  act  more 
effectively  as  a  restraint  upon  them.     Hence  they  would  not 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JERSEY.  21 

even  listen  to  the  establishment  of  an  episcopate  in  the  now 
growing  colonies,  as  its  prehites,  being  farther  removed  from 
the  royal  coercion,  might  readily  become  more  defiant  than 
even  the  dissatisfied  bishops  at  liome  threatened  to  be. 

The  sympathies  of  William  of  Orange  were  really  more 
with  the  Dissenters  than  with  the  Cliurch  ;  the  English 
bishops  dm'ing  his  reign — as,  in  fact,  through  *  the  entire 
colonial  period — would  very  gladly  have  sent  out  one  or  more 
bishops  to  the  American  provinces  ;  but,  bound  as  they  were 
by  the  laws  of  the  realm,  they  had  no  power  whatever  to 
appoint  and  give  jurisdiction  to  a  bishop  in  any  part,  either 
abroad  or  at  home,  of  the  British  dominions.  This  could  be 
done  only  under  an  act  of  the  Parliament  and  appro s^ed  by  the 
king,  and  neither  king  nor  Parliament  cared  to  establish  an 
episcopate  in  the  colonies  at  a  time  when  it  was  very  uncertain 
if  the  bulk  of  the  House  of  Bishops  might  not  cast  the  weight 
of  their  great  place  and  authority  on  the  side  of  the  Stuarts,  as 
a  considerable  number  of  them  were  eventually  led  to  do. 

If  Queen  Anne  had  lived  long  enough  it  is  probable  she 
would  have  endeavored  to  institute  some  mode  of  episcopal 
supervision  over  the  churches  in  America.  So  near  did  the 
accomplishment  of  this  purpose  seem  at  one  time  to  be,  that  a 
fund  to  the  amount  of  £-1700  was  subscribed  in  England  and 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
GosjDel  f  for  the  support  of  a  bishop  in  the  colonies,  and  the 

*  The  position  and  feelings  of  the  English  bishops  are  very  fairly  rep- 
resented in  a  remarkable  correspondence  of  one  of  the  bishops  of  London 
with  the  celebrated  Dr.  Doddridge  on  the  subject  of  the  oppression  of  Dis- 
senters in  Virginia.  The  bishop  says,  speaking  of  the  condition  of  the 
Church  in  the  colonies  :  "  Sure  I  am  that  the  care  of  it  is  improperly  lodged  ; 
for  a  bishop  to  live  at  one  end  of  the  world  and  his  people  at  another  must 
make  the  office  of  a  bishop  very  lancomfortable  to  him,  and  in  a  great  meas- 
ure Tiseless  to  the  people.  And  I  applied  to  the  king  as  soon  as  I  was 
Bishop  of  London  for  two  or  three  bishops  for  the  plantations,  to  reside 
there,  but  found  so  many  obstacles  that  it  could  not  be  done." 

+  Reply  to  the  plea  of  Rev.  Dr.  Chandler,  of  New  Jersey,  for  a  bishop 
in  the  colonies,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chauncy,  of  Boston,  p.  101  ;  he  gives  the 


22  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 


most  elegant  and  spacious  mansion  in  the  northern  provinces, 
described  in '^  the  quaint  history  of  that  time  as  "  the  great 
and  stately  palace  of  John  Tateham,  at  the  town  of  Burling- 
ton in  New  Jersey,"  was  purchased,  under  the  direction  of  the 
society,  and  preparations  were  made  by  its  order  to  have 
Burlington  become  the  residence  and  see  of  the  first  x\nglican 
bishop  in  America. 

But  even  Queen  Anne,  with  all  her  desire  for  the  welfare 
of  the  Church  and  the  extension  of  its  influence  throughout 
the  provinces,  was  so  fearful  of  any  kind  of  independent 
thinking  or  acting  among  the  colonists,  that  in  the  very  in- 
structions f  in  which  she  provides  most  admirably  for  the 
efficiency  of  the  ministry  and  for  the  regular  services  of  the 
Church  in  New  Jersey,  she  also  ordains  that,  "  as  great  incon- 
veniences may  arise  by  the  liberty  of  printing  in  our  said 
province,  you  are  hereby  to  j^rovidCjby  all  necessary  orders, 
that  no  person  keep  any  press  for  printing,  nor  that  any  book, 
pamphlet,  or  other  matter  whatsoever  be  printed  without  our 
special  leave  and  license  first  obtained." 

Besides  the  difficulties  we  have  thus  seen  in  the  way  of 
an  American  episcopate  from  the  "home  authorities,"  on 
political  grounds,  there  w^ere  others  equally  great  in  the  condi- 
tions of  the  colonists.  The  mass  of  the  people  in  the  northern 
provinces  were  Dissenters  ;  and  whatever  differences  they  had 
among  themselves,  they  were  all  at  one  in  bitter  hostility  to 
any  institution  that  could  give  vitality  and  effectiveness  to  the 
hated  Church  of  England  in  the  provinces.  Not  only  so,  but 
there  was  an  almost  universal  distrust  and  fear  of  the  intro- 
duction of  an  English  bishop  amcng  the  laymen  of  the  Church 


names  and  amounts  of  the  contribvators  to  this  fund.  As  stated  by  him, 
these  were:  " Archbishoj)  Tennison,  £1000;  Sir  Jonathan  Trelawney, 
£1000  ;  Lady  Elizabeth  Hastings,  £500  ;  Bishop  Butler,  £500  ;  Bishop  Ben- 
son, £200  ;  Bishop  Osbaldaston,  £500  ;  and  Mr.  Fisher,  £1000,"  p.  104.  This 
book  of  Dr.  Chauncey  throws  much  light  on  the  feelings  of  that  time,  1768. 
*  Hills'  History,  etc.,  pp.  17,  lOG,  136.  f  Ibid.  p.  26. 


THE   CHURCH   IN   ISTEW   JERSEY.  23 

itself.  Bishop  White  said,*  in  reference  to  this  feeling  : 
"  There  cannot  be  produced  an  instance  of  laymen  in  America, 
unless  in  the  very  infancy  of  the  settlements,  soliciting  the  in- 
troduction of  a  bishoj).  It  was  probably  by  a  great  majority 
of  them  thought  an  hazardous  experiment."  There  was  at 
that  time  practically  no  conception  of  a  bishop  of  the  Church 
of  England,  as  we  now  regard  the  bishop,  as  merely  the 
spiritual  head  and  the  centre  of  unity  of  the  Church.  He 
was  and  had  always  been  in  England  a  high  dignitary  in  the 
government,  living  in  lordly  state,  having  a  special  mode  of 
jurisdiction  of  his  own,  needing  vast  incomes  and  a  pompous 
retinue  to  maintain  his  position.  The  American  f  mind,  of  all 
forms  of  religious  opinion,  recoiled  from  this  ;  it  was  wholly 
alien  to  all  they  had  come  to  America  to  obtain  ;  and,  unfor- 
tunately, the  measures  taken  or  proposed  by  those  who  were 
most  urgent  for  the  colonial  episcopate  seemed  greatly  to  favor 
the  opinion  that  sncli  was  to  be  the  position  of  a  bishop  in  the 
provinces.  Yery  early  in  the  history  of  the  settlements  Arch- 
bishop Laud  had  "  desired  to  send  a  bishoj)  to  Xew  England 
to  coerce  the  Puritans  there  to  submission  to  the  Church  of 
England  for  their  better  government,  and  to  back  him  with 
some  force  to  compel,  if  he  were  not  able  otherwise  to  per- 
suade, to  obedience.''  :};  xVnd  the  purcb.ase  at  a  later  date  of 
the   "  palace  at  Burlington,"  with  the  jjrovision  of  a  fund, 


*  Journals  of  the  first  fifty  years,  vol.  iii.,  p.  426.  It  is  certain,  how- 
ever, that  such  apjilication  was  made  by  some  of  the  laj'men,  as  we  find 
Colonel  Lewis  Morris,  of  New  Jersey,  addressing  a  memorial  to  the  Bishop 
of  London  in  1700,  asking  for  the  establishment  of  a  bishojD  in  that  province 
(Sussex  Centennial,  p.  79)  ;  and  Bishop  White  partially  qualifies  his  own 
statement  in  a  note  :  "  If  there  has  been  any  it  must  have  been  so  few  as 
rather  to  corroborate  than  weaken  the  sentiment  conveyed,"  which  is 
essentially  the  fact. 

f  Chauncy's  reply  to  Chandler,  p.  108  :  "  May  we  never  have  a  clergy 
for  whom  fine  seats  must  be  provided  and  funds  established  to  bring  an 
income  suited  for  a  kingdom  of  this  world  more  than  for  one  which  is 
purely  spiritual." 

:|;  Anderson's  Chiirch  in  the  Colonies,  vol.  i.,  p.  401. 


24  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OEGANIZATION   OF 


readily  magnified  far  beyond  its  actual  amount,  were  con- 
stantly referred  to  *  as  certain  proof  of  tlie  high  state  the  ex- 
pected bishop  wonld  assume. 

But  there  were  still  other  objections,  and  yet  more  fatal. 
The  only  power  that  could,  in  the  then  condition  of  the  law, 
establish  an  episcopate  in  America,  M-as  an  act  of  Parliament, 
and  the  one  point  on  which  well-nigh  the  whole  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  were  a  unit  was  in. resisting  all  claims  f  of  the 
Parliament  to  exercise  any  local  authority  over  the  affairs  of 
either  State  or  Church  in  any  of  the  colonies.  Hence  the 
opposition  of  the  people  in  every  section,  Churchmen  equally 
with  Dissenters,  to  the  sending  over  a  Parliamentary  bishop, 
was  strong  and  openly  pronounced.  In  Yirginia,  just  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  war,  a  meeting  of  the  clergy  was  called  by 
the  "  commissary"  to  ask  for  the  appointment  of  a  bishop. 
Only  twelve  of  the  whole  number — nearly  one  hundred — 
came,  and  four  of  these  opposed  the  proposition.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  tlie  province,  on  learning  their  action, 
although  its  members  were  almost  entirely  Episcopalians, 
passed  a  vote  of  thanks  unanimously  to  the  four  "  for  their 
wise  and  well-timed  opposition  to  the  jjernicious  project  of 


"  + 
+ 


introducing  an  American  bishop. 

And  John  Adams  says,  in  reference  to  this  feeling  of  tlie 

*  Channcy's  reply  to  Chandler,  p.  105  :  "  Such  provision  must  be 
made  for  him  that  he  may  appear  in  all  the  grandeur  of  a  bishop  in  Eng- 
land." 

I  "  Eepresentations  were  sent  to  England  that  nineteen  twentieths  of 
the  Americans  are  utterly  against  sending  them  a  bishop,  and  even  if  sent 
with  only  spiritual  power,  would  cause  more  dangerous  disturbances  than 
even  the  Stamp  Act  itself,  so  that  the  ministry  would  not  even  give  the 
archbishop  any  attention  about  it." — Life  of  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  p.  325. 

X  Wilberforce's  History,  etc.,  ch.  iv.,  pp.  129,  130.  In  1769  Eev.  Mr. 
Boucher's  sermon,  (juoted  in  Wilberforce,  declared  :  "  Till  now  the  opposi- 
tion to  an  American  episcojoate  has  been  confined  chiefly  to  the  demagogues 
and  independents  of  the  New  England  provinces,  but  now  it  is  esi^oused 
with  warmth  by  the  people  of  Virginia.  We  see  professed  Chui-chmen  fignt- 
ing  the  battles  of  Dissenters,  and  our  worst  enemies  are  now  literally  those 
of  our  own  household." 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JEESEY.  25 


people  :  "  The  apprehension  of  episcopacy  contributed  as 
much  as  any  otlier  cause  to  arouse  the  attention  and  lead  to 
close  thinking  on  the  authority  of  Parliament  over  the  col- 
onies ;  this  was  a  fact  as  certain  as  any  other  in  the  history  of 
the  country.  .  .  .  The  line  of  reasoning  was  :  If  Parliament 
can  erect  dioceses  and  appoint  bishops,  they  may  introduce 
the  whole  hierarchy,  establish  tithes,  forbid  Dissenters,  make 
schism  heresy,  and  impose  penalties  extending  to  life  and  limb, 
as  well  as  to  liberty  and  property."  * 

Had  there  been  any  adequate  political  advantage  from  the 
establishing  of  an  episcopate  in  the  provinces,  the  English 
Government  might  have  disregarded  these  feelings  of  the 
colonists  ;  but  the  certainly  bad  effects  of  the  measure  were  too 
dano-erous  to  call  for  such  an  additional  violence  to  the  convic- 
tions  of  the  people  without  any  corresponding  gain.  And  the 
war  of  the  Revolution  found  the  Church  of  England  in 
America  little  more  than  a  multitude  of  separate  congregations 
scattered,  in  varying  proportions,  through  the  several  prov- 
inces, without  a  common  head,  without  any  authoritative 
discipline,  universally  distrusted  in  its  political  relations  by 
the  mass  of  the  people,  deprived  of  the  very  organization 
which  it  had  been  taught  was  vital  to  the  continuance  of  an 
apostolic  Church,  and  upheld  only  by  the  inherent  divineness 
of  its  principles,  the  devoted  love  of  the  few  laymen  who  still 
clung  to  its  honored  form  of  worship,  and  the  self-denying 
services  of  the  handful  of  its  clergy  who  were  willing,  from 
conviction  or  personal  regard  for  the  souls  of  their  little  flocks, 
to  cast  their  lot  in  with  the  rebellious  colonists,  and  yield  for 
the  time  to  a  sej^aration  from  the  Mother  Church  of  their 
ordination  and  their  allegiance  in  the  ministry. 

So  many  of  the  ministers  left  their  parishes,  or  were  driven 
out  by  the  people  in  the  progress  of  the  war,t  that  '•  in  many 
of  the  northern  colonies  there  was  not  one  church  remaining 


*  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Adams,  vol.  x.,  p.  185. 
•j-  Wilberf orce' s  History,  p.  133. 


26  centenj^ial  of  the  organization  of 

open.  In  Pennsyl\''ania  one  only  was  left,  nnder  the  ministry 
of  Di\  Wliite  ;  Virginia  had  entered  on  the  war  with  one 
hundred  and  sixty-four  cliurches  and  chapels  and  ninety-one 
clergy  ;  at  its  close  ninetj'-'live  parishes  w^ere  extinct  or  for- 
saken, and  only  twenty-eight  ministers  remained  within  its 
limits,"  There  were  but  five  left  in  Massachusetts,*  one  in 
New  Hampshire  ;  two  lay  readers  but  no  clergymen  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Abraham  Beach,  the  zealous  and 
able  rector  of  Christ  Church,  New  Brunswick,  was  tlie  only 
minister  by  f  whom  the  regular  services  of  the  Chui'ch  were 
maintained  in  either  of  the  provinces  of  New  Jersey. 

As  we  look  back  to  those  dark  days  of  weakness  and  dis- 
aster, the  Church  of  the  nation,  as  well  as  the  Church  in  our 
own  State,  may  well  exclaim,  "  With  my  staff  alone  I  passed 
over  this  Jordan." 

Immediately  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  the  minds  of  the 
clergy  in  the  Church  of  the  several  States,  in  connection  with 
the  more  prominent  laymen,  began  to  inquire  into  the  best 
mode  of  providing  for  the  new  condition  of  affairs.  The 
position  of  the  churches  in  America  at  this  time  was  in  many 
things  wholly  unique  ;  for  the  first  time  since  the  union  of  the 
Church  with  the  imperial  government  under  Constantine,  a 
group  of  independent  churches  had  the  possibility,  or  rather 
were  forced  to  the  necessity,  of  acting  wholly  for  themselves 
and  of  providing  the  needed  requirements,  whether  to  con- 
tinue as  self-governing  and  independent  branches  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  each  of  the  States  where  they  were  placed, 
or  to  unite  in  the  organization  of  one  common  Niitional 
Church  ;  but  in  either  case  without,  on  the  one  hand,  a  sub- 
jection to  the  political  supremacy  of  the  State,  or,  on  the 
other,  a  claim  to  the  domination  of  the  civil  government  by 
the  intrusive  authority  of  the  Church.     They  had,  besides,  to 


*  Eev.  Dr.  Parker,  in  Journals  of  Fifty  Years,  vol.  iii.,  p.  58. 
f  Sermon  by  Kev.  Dr.  Langford  before  New  Jersey  Convention,  1884. 
History  of  Christ  Church,  New  Brunswick,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Stubbs. 


THE   CIIUKCH   IN   NEW   JEESEY.  27 


deal  with  relations  of  ministers  and  people,  of  bishops  and 
their  jurisdiction,  such  as  had  not  been  known  in  any  part  of 
Christendom  for  fifteen  hundred  years.  They  were  poor  and 
few  in  number,  and  Avitli  no  hope  of  aid  or  sympathy  from 
any  otlier  portion  of  the  Chnrch  elsewhere,  or  any  favoi'  from 
tlie  "  person  in  autliority  or  the  legislative  bodies  in  any  of 
the  States."  Nor  had  they  any  special  fitness  in  their  own 
coiiditions.  They  had  no  training  or  experience  for  their  new 
responsibilities  ;  no  Anglican  precedents  on  which  to  build  ; 
they  were  unpopular  and  frequently  disliked  by  the  great  body 
of  the  people  in  almost  every  section  of  the  country.  And 
now,  when  called  to  the  mighty  work  of  laying  the  foundation 
of  the  Church  of  the  future  in  America,  they  were,  from  the 
previous  conditions  of  their  colonial  history,  radically,  and  at 
first  it  seemed  irreconcilably,  divided  as  to  the  wise  or  even 
safe  provisions  for  their  permanent  organization,  whether  as 
self-governing,  independent  branches  of  the  Church  in  the 
several  States,  or  in  their  union  as  constituent  members  of  the 
one  Church  of  the  United  States. 

One  of  these  jiarties  held  now,  as  before  the  war,  that 
no  portion  of  the  Church  could,  as  a  fundamental  principle, 
take  au}^  formal  action,  either  on  questions  concerning  its 
liturgy  or  matters  of  ecclesiastical  organization,  M'ithout  the 
completion  of  the  apostolic  order  and  the  co-operation  of  a 
bishop. 

The  other,  still  feeling  a  distrust  of  an  unlimited  episco- 
pal authority,  if  there  were  not  some  adequate  restrictions 
placed  upon  it  in  advance,  determined  that  they  would  first 
establish  such  conditions  as  they  deemed  advisable,  settling 
the  standards  of  doctrine,  ordaining  the  offices  of  worship,  de- 
fining what  should  be  the  duties,  responsibilities,  and  restraints 
of  the  episcopate,  and  then  proceed  to  obtain  a  bishop  who 
would  come  to  his  position  on  the  basis  and  under  the  limita- 
tions thus  prepared  for  him. 

The  Church  in  Connecticut  had  always  held  the  first  of 
these  views,  and  immediately  on  the  declaration  of  peace  sent 


28  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 

tlie  Kev.  Dr.  Seabnry  to  England  to  obtain  for  himself  there, 
or  elsewhere,  the  consecration  which  would  enable  them  to 
proceed  at  once,  in  their  permanent  organization  and  work,  as 
a  complete  and  fuUj  authorized  branch  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

There  Avas,  however,  a  very  general  feeling  in  the  other 
States  that  the  matter  of  ]3aramonnt  importance  was  some 
mode  of  bringing  the  separate  churches,  at  the  earliest  day 
possible,  into  a  national  unity  and  co-operation.  The  senti- 
ment in  New  Jersey  was  cordially  at  one  with  the  principles 
of  the  clergy  in  Connecticut  ;  but  so  urgent  seemed  the  neces- 
sity of  uniting  tliese  scattered  weak  fragments  of  churches 
under  some  common  headship  of  union  and  action,  that  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Beach,  then,  as  always,  wise  and  far-seeing,  was 
willing  for  the  time  to  waive  the  questions  of  detail,  and  to 
endeavor  as  the  matter  of  iirst  importance  to  unite  the 
several  churches  in  one  common  organization,  and  to  obtain 
the  Episcopal  succession  by  their  united  action,  and  in  a 
correspondence  with  Rev.  Dr.  White,  of  PhikideJphia,  he 
proposed  to  have  a  meeting  in  this  parisli  on  May  lltli,  1781, 
which  should  consider  how  '^'  "  to  introduce  order  and  uni- 
formity in  the  Church  in  this  country,  and  provide  for  a  suc- 
cession in  the  ministry."  And  it  was  in  accordance  with  these 
suggestions  that  the  meetings  of  May  f  and  October,  ITSl, 
out  of  which  grew  both  the  National  and  State  Primary  Con- 
ventions of  1785,  were  finally  decided  on  and  held. 

As  a  simple  question  of  ecc]esiasti(;al  polity  and  strict  con- 
formity to  the  order  of  the  Church,  the  action  of  Connecticut 


*  Bishop  Perry,  in  the  Journals  of  Fifty  Years,  etc.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  8,  says  : 
"It  is  time  the  Church  should  know  to  whom  the  idea  of  this  preliminary 
meeting  was  due,"  and  he  gives  the  letters  in  which  Dr.  Beach  first  makes 
the  suggestion  and  afterward  arranges  for  the  meeting, 

f  For  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  on  May  11th,  1784,  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, see  Journals  of  Fifty  Years,  vol.  i.,  -p.  12  ;  vol.  iii.,  p.  7.  Sermon 
before  Convention  of  New  Jersej',  bj^  Rev.  Dr.  Langford,  ISBl.  Sermon  in 
St.  Paul's,  Camden,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Garrison,  May  11th,  1884. 


THE   CHURCH   IX   NEW   JERSEY.  29 

was  the  more  regular  mode  of  procedure  ;  but  the  thouglit  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Beach  and  the  resulting  movement  which  was  thus 
begun  in  New  Jersey,  were  far  the  more  Catholic  and  states- 
manlike, and,  under  the  circumstances,  vastly  more  important 
to  the  future  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States. 

The  real  problem  of  that  time  was  not  the  separate  organ- 
ization of  the  churches  as  each  existed  Vv'ithin  the  limits  of  tlie 
several  States,  but  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the  Church  of  a 
continent,  to  prepare  for  the  future  of  a  new  branch  of  the 
Church  Catholic  for  a  nation.  It  would  have  been  a  sad  day 
for  the  Church  in  America,  and,  in  its  wider  relations,  for  the 
best  interests  of  Christendom,  had  such  of  the  States  as  were 
desirous  or  felt  themselves  able  to  secure  a  bishop  proceeded 
each  by  itself  to  perfect  its  own  organization,  and  made  no 
provision  for  the  mutual  aid  and  co-operation  of  the  whole 
together  as  one  great  national  communion  in  the  Church  of 
the  United  States.  "Where  would  have  been  the  vast  nn'ssion- 
ai'y  work  whose  sixteen  missionary  bishops  and  stations,  now 
maintained  on  every  continent,  are  the  outgrowth  of  this 
unity  ?  Where  the  grand  moral  influence  of  its  oneness  of 
spirit,  pulsating  with  one  common  life,  from  the  wealthy  and 
cultured  cities  of  our  seaboards  to  the  remotest  hamlet  of  the 
Indian  reservations  and  of  the  last-settled  Territory  ?  And 
the  very  assembling  of  her  widely-scattered  bishops  aud  dio- 
ceses, as  they  gather  from  near  and  far  to  our  National  Con- 
vention, is  it  not  a  visible  response,  so  far  as  we  can  answer  it, 
to  the  Lord's  great  yearm'ng  for  His  people  "  that  tliey  all 
may  be  one,  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  Thee,  that 
they  also  may  be  one  in  us"  ? 

In  presenting  the  question  of  organic  unity  as  the  mntter 
of  first  importance  at  this  time,  Dr.  Beach  and  those  who 
acted  with  him  felt  that  if  the  separate  churches  could  once 
be  united  in  the  connnon  life  of  a  church  of  the  nation,  they 
might  be  safely  trusted  to  their  old  Anglican  training  and  to 
the  principles  inherent  in  the  very  essence  of  the  Church  of 
England    to    correct    the    perversions   and    misa2)prehensions 


30  CENTENNTAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 


wliicli  liad  grown  ont  of  tlie  peculiar  conditions  of  tlieir 
colonial  history,  and  to  bring  tlieni  all,  at  no  distant  period, 
into  full  conformity  with  all  that  was  fundamental  in  its  stand- 
ards of  doctrine,  or  really  of  any  moment  in  its  ecclesiastical 
order  ;  and  the  course  of  the  subsequent  events  has  abundantly 
shown  that  they  had  judged  aright. 

The  meeting  in  Philadelpliia  in  September,  1785,  which 
was  the  immediate  outcome  of  the  action  taken  in  Isew 
Jersey,  and  from  which  we  date  the  national  centennial  of 
our  gathering  to-day,  did  indeed  fall  very  short  of  wliat  was 
desirable.  Its  revision  of  the  Liturgy,  now  known  as  "  The 
Proposed  Book,"  was  a  serious  mutilation,  in  many  important 
points,  of  the  teachings  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  its  con- 
stitution would  have  made  the  office  of  a  bishop  little  more 
than  a  nominal  overseership,  without  either  the  duties  or  the 
responsibilities  which  properly  belong  to  the  Episcopal  order. 

But  with  the  awakened  interest  in  the  Church  that  grew 
out  of  this  convention,  there  came  so  wide  and  radical  a  change 
in  most  of  the  States,  that  in  its  next  meeting,  in  June,  1786, 
at  Philadelphia,  all  the  really  erroneous  features  of  "  The 
Proposed  Book"  were  repudiated,  the  more  important  defects 
in  the  constitution  either  remedied  or  left  open  for  future 
action,  and  uj^on  this  sounder  basis  two  distinguished  clergy- 
men, Pev.  Dr.  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Provoost, 
of  New  York,  were  sent,  with  the  testimonials  and  request 
of  "  The  General  Convention"  of  the  Church  in  seven  of  the 
States,  to  England  to  receive  consecration  as  bishops  of  the 
Church  in  the  States  by  which  they  had  been  elected.  The 
English  prelates  had  been  empowered  by  a  recent  act  of  Par- 
liament to  perform  this  office,  and  the  apostolical  succession 
of  the  Eiiglish  Church  was  continued  in  the  churches  of  Amer- 
ica by  the  consecration,  in  Lambeth  Palace,  London,  Febru- 
ary 4th,  1787,  of  the  first  bishops  of  l^ew  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania. 

The  influences  which  had  thus  shaped  the  action  of 
1786  continued  to  extend  and  deejjen,  and  in  1789,  when  the 


THE   CHURCir   IN   NEW   JERSEY.  31 

General  Convention  again  came  together,  the  different  lines 
on  which  the  General  Convention  and  the  Church  in  Con- 
necticut, with  the  other  States  of  New  England,  had  been 
moving,  had  so  closely  approximated,  tliat  the  deputies  and 
bishops  of  the  General  Convention  were  found  willing  to 
remove  from  their  plan  of  organization  whatever  was  radically 
objectionable  to  Bishop  Seabury  and  the  churches  which  had 
acted  with  him,  and  on  October  2d,  1789,  at  a  session  held  in 
Independence  Hall,"  Philadelphia,  the  two  sections  of  churches 
came  together,  and  in  that  room,  memorable  by  so  many 
events  of  high  importance  in  the  political  history  of  the  coun- 
try, the  churches  of  all  the  States  first  agreed  to  their  union  in 
the  one  common  body  of  "  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  the  United  States."  The  act  thus  consummated  removed 
the  last  obstacle  to  the  completion  of  the  work  begun  in  ITSl ; 
and  when  the  General  Convention  of  1789  finally  adjourned, 
on  October  16th,  it  had  established  a  constitution  which 
formed  the  basis  of  the  union  of  its  several  parts,  and  had  set 
forth  its  standards  of  doctrine  and  worship  ;  and  with  these 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  hence- 
forward took  its  rightful  place  as  a  fully  authorized  national 
branch  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  an  inheritor  of  all  that 
belongs  to  the  history  and  privileges  of  a  living  member  of  the 
one  universal  Church  of  all  the  ages  and  nations. 

During  the  period  in  which  these  larger  national  move- 
ments were  thus  going  forward  to  completion,  the  little  band 
of  Churchmen  in  jyeio  Jersey^  which  had  organized  its  first 
convention  in  1785,  was  gradually  strengthening  and  growing, 
and  was  desirous,  at  the  earliest  moment  possible,  to  effect 
their  diocesan  organization  by  the  election  and  settlement  of  a 
bishop  of  their  own.      The  mere  handful  which  met  here  in 


*  Life  of  Rev.  Dr.  Williain  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  285.  Journals  of  General 
Convention  of  1789,  vol.  i.,  p.  97.  The  article  of  union  was  signed,  on  the 
part  of  the  New  England  clergj%  by  BishoiJ  Seabury,  Rev.  Dr.  Jarvis,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Hiibbard,  of  Connecticut,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Parker,  as  Clerical  Dejjuty 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire. 


32  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OE 


that  Urst  convention — only  three  clergymen  and  eight  parishes 
■ — did  not  feel  adequate,  either  from  ability  or  numbers,  to 
propose  so  large  an  undertaking  ;  but  in  1798,  finding  their 
clergy  had  increased  to  seven  and  their  churches  to  twenty- 
two,  they  proceeded,  in  a  special  "  convention"^  held  in  New 
Brunswick,"  to  elect  the  Rev.  Uzal  Ogden,  D.D.,  the  rector 
of  Trinity  Church,  Newark,  as  first  bishop  of  the  Church  in 
New  Jersey  ;  but  the  General  Convention,  in  its  action,  which 
subsequent  f  events  showed  to  have  been  most  fortunate  for 
the  Church,  declined  to  "  consent  to  his  consecration."  After 
this  discouragement  in  its  endeavors  to  obtain  a  bishop,  the 
Church  in  New  Jersey  made  no  effort  in  that  direction  until 
seventeen  years  had  j)assed  away.  There  seems  to  have  been 
very  little  increase  of  the  Church  during  all  this  time — indeed, 
we  are  told,  in  a  report  to  the  General  Convention,  that  but 
six  new  parishes  had  been  established  in  the  State  since  the 
close  of  the  Revolntion.  But  in  the  Convention  of  1815,;}: 
held  in  St.  Michael's,  Trenton,  it  was  resolved  to  elect  a 
bishop,  there  being  seven  clergymen  and  deputies  from 
eighteen  parishes  present ;  and  on  the  first  ballot  the  Rev.  John 
Croes,  then  rector  of  Christ  Church,  New  Brunswick,  at  a 
salary  of  $500  per  annum,  was  elected  as  the  bishop.  The 
consecration  of  Dr.  Croes  as  its  first  bishop  completed  the 
organization  of  the  Church  in  New  Jersey,  and  gave  it  the 
place  for  which  it  had  so  long  been  waiting,  of  a  church  fully 
endowed  to  meet  all  its  own  needs  and  to  carry  forward  its 
divinely-given  work  in  the  true  spirit  of  its  divine  and 
heavenly  Founder.  § 


*  Hills'  History  of  the  Church  in  Biirlington,  p.  348. 

f  Hills,  p.  349. 

X  Journal  of  Convention  of  New  Jersey,  1815.  Hills'  History,  etc., 
p.  382.    History  of  Christ  Church,  New  Brunswicli,  by  Eev.  Dr.  Stubbs. 

§  It  did  not  come  within  the  range  of  my  subject  to  continue  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church  in  New  Jersey  after  its  completed  organization  by  the 
consecration  of  Bishop  Croes  ;  but  we  can  hardly  look  back  over  the  past  cen- 
tury of  the  Church  in  this  State  without  recalling  the  memory  of  the  two 


THE   CHURCH   IX   XEW   JERSEY.  33 

But  while  the  difficulties  which  liad  so  long  repressed  and 
almost  paralyzed  the  Church,  hoth  in  our  State  and  in  the 
nation,  were  now  overcome,  so  far  as  concerned  its  internal 
constitution,  it  was  still  sorely  hindered  in  its  progress  by  the 
remains  of  the  old  prejudices  and  adverse  convictions  among 
the  people.  In  the  State  of  Xew  Jersey,  with  a  population 
of  two  hundred  and  lifty  thousand,  there  were,  in  1815,  oidy 
eight  clergymen  and  not  over  four  hundred  communicants. 
The  entire  United  States  numbered  about  eight  million  inhab- 
itants, and  had  two  hundred  and  sixty  ministers  and  bishops 
divided  amone;  thirteen  dioceses.  The  i>;reat  bodv  of  the 
people  out  of  the  large  towns  and  cities  knew  really  nothing 
of  the  Churcli,  and  if  they  thought  of  it  at  all  it  was  rather  as 
some  foreign  and  uncongenial  mode  of  worship  which  was 
utterly  alien  to  the  American  character,  and  not  at  all  in  har- 
mony with  the  spirit  of  a  free  republic.     The  notions  that  the 


noble  men   who    successively  held  the  episcopate   between   the   death  of 
Bishop  Croes  and  the  division  of  the  original  diocese  in  1874. 

Bishop  Doane,  from  his  consecration  in  1832  to  his  death  in  1859,  occui:)ied 
a  place  of  marked  and  singular  prominence  in  both  America  and  England. 
His  name  was  always  with  the  foremost  in  the  nation  in  all  earnest  work 
for  the  advancement  of  the  Church.  He  was  the  first  bishop  of  the  Church 
in  the  United  States  who  was  permitted  to  preach  in  the  puljiits  of  the 
Church  of  England.  And  with  his  visit  to  that  country  in  1841  began  that 
fraternal  intercourse  between  these  two  bi'anches  of  the  Church  which 
every  year  since  then  has  made  more  beautiful  and  strong. 

Bishop  Odenheimer,  who  was  elected  in  1859  as  his  successor,  won  all 
hearts  by  his  quick  and  loving  sympathy  ;  and  the  Church  in  this  State, 
directed  by  his  ability  and  inspired  by  his  spirit,  grew  year  by  year,  until  at 
the  division  of  the  original  diocese  in  1874,  each  part  was  well-nigh  as 
large  in  numbers,  and  vastly  stronger  in  all  its  capabilities  of  work,  than 
the  whole  State  was  when  he  became  its  bishop. 

On  the  division  of  the  diocese,  he  chose  as  his  field  the  northern  por- 
tion of  the  State.  But  while  the  younger  diocese  was  the  home  of  his 
adoption,  yet  in  his  death  he  rests  beside  his  predecessor,  Bishop  Doane, 
in  the  churchyard  of  old  St.  Mary's,  Burlington.  ' 

He  died  August  14th,  1879.     He  was  siicceeded  in  the  diocese  of  New 
Jersey    by  Bishop    Scarborough,   consecrated    February  2d,   1875,    and    in 
Northern  New  Jersey,  by  Bishop  Starkey,  consecrated  January  8th,  1880. 
3 


84  CENTENTs^IAL   OF   THE   ORGAlSriZATIOlSr   OF 


l>isliop  was  i^ossessed  of  almost  unlimited  authority,  and  that 
both  minister  and  people  were  alike  heartless  in  a  formalism 
that  could  neither  preach  nor  pray  spontaneously,  were  almost 
universal.  It  is  long  witliin  the  memory  of  your  preacher  that 
tlie  services  of  an  Episcopal  minister  in  by  far  the  larger  num- 
ber of  the  villages  of  this  State  would  excite  more  curiosity 
and  unfriendly  criticism  than  the  presence  of  a  Mohammedan 
Mufti  in  the  present  day.  The  town  all  ran  as  to  a  show  to 
hear  a  man  preach  in  that  amazing  garment  which,  they 
passed  around  in  whispers,  was  called  a  "  surplice,"  and 
looked  with  open-mouthed  wonder,  largely  mingled  with  con- 
tempt, as  they  saw  him  kneel  when  he  came  into  the  place  of 
worship,  bow  at  the  name  of  Jesus  in  the  Creed,  and  read 
prayers  out  of  a  book.  And  it  is  but  a  very  few  years  ago 
tliat  a  presiding  elder  in  the  Metliodist  communion  inquired 
of  me  most  seriously  "  if  it  was  a  law  in  your  Church  that  the 
bishop  must  read  and  approve  every  sermon  of  all  his  ministers 
before  they  were  allowed  to  preach  them  ?" 

Under  conditions  such  as  these,  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
growth  of  the  Church  in  the  early  portion  of  the  century  was 
very  slow — indeed,  the  work  of  the  Church  for  the  first  fifty 
years  after  its  completed  organization  was  largely  to  remove 
these  unfounded  prejudices,  and  to  gain  a  fair  and  candid 
hearing  from  the  general  community. 

The  turning  point  in  the  establishing  of  a  right  under- 
standing with  the  people  was  the  revival  of  the  original  and 
true  conception  of  the  missionary  character  of  the  Church, 
which  took  shape  and  was  finally  consummated  by  the  appoint- 
ment and  sending  out,  in  1835,  of  the  first  missionary  bishop. 
This  movement  was  largely  due  to  the  zeal  and  ability  of 
Bishop  Doane  ;  he  had  been  elected  and  consecrated  as  Bishop 
of  New  Jersey,  as  successor  of  Bishop  Croes,  in  1832  ;  and 
although  so  young  in  the  episcopate,  his  fervid  eloquence, 
large  acquirements,  and  clear  appreciation  of  the  true  mission 
of  the  Church  gave  him  at  once  a  leading  position  in  the 
House  of  Bishops,    and   made  his  episcopate  an  era  in  the 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JERSEY.  35 


Clmrcli  of  tlie  nation  as  marked  and  significant  as  it  was  in  the 
administration  of  his  own  diocese. 

With  the  inauguration  of  the  missionary  episcopate  and 
the  corresponding  change  in  conception  of  the  Church  as  to 
Jier  proper  character  and  mission  in  this  country,  there  came  a 
vast  and  rapid  widening  of  her  views  upon  the  real  import  and 
spirit  of  her  work  on  this  great  continent.  She  now  began  to 
realize  that  she  was  set  here  to  be  and  to  represent  the 
"■  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church"  in  all  its  high  and  distinctive 
attributes  to  every  part  and  portion  of  all  this  mighty  nation, 
not  to  call  men  to  take  on  her  name  as  merely  a  rival  sect 
among  a  multitude  of  other  sects,  but  to  come  to  her  as  the 
living  body  of  the  ascended  Lord,  as  that  body  had  been  estab- 
lished by  His  divinely-authorized  apostles,  and  liad  handed 
down  unchanged  the  whole  substance  of  the  faith  that  "  once 
for  all  had  been  delivered  to  the  saints." 

The  people,  instead  of  their  old  distrust  of  her,  now 
began  on  all  sides  to  recognize  that  she  had  peculiar  adapta- 
tions to  the  needs  of  this  great  Republic  ;  that  she  alone,  of  all 
the  institutions  of  the  age,  combined  a  reverence  and  adherence 
to  whatever  was  best  and  most  vital  of  the  past  with  that 
freedom  of  reason  and  action  which  was  able  to  take  all  that 
was  wise  and  true  in  the  learning  and  life  of  the  present  ;  and 
hence  she  is  becoming  daily  more  and  more  the  Church  of  the 
people  and  for  tiie  people,  as  she  has  always  gathered  largely 
to  her  numbers  of  the  thoughtful  and  the  refined. 

Under  this  same  high  inspiration  she  is  also  entering  con- 
tinually more  fully  into  the  riches  of  her  own  inheritance  and 
her  own  great  work  for  the  Christianity  of  the  future.  !Not 
only  does  she  glory  in  her  kinship  with  the  noble  Church  of 
England  in  its  reformed  and  present  state,  but  she  feels  that 
all  its  past,  and  the  past  of  all  the  Church  of  Christ,  equally 
belong  to  her.  Hers  are  the  builders  of  the  old  cathedrals, 
and  hers  the  loving  spirit  of  the  worshippers  who  thronged 
their  mighty  aisles  ;  hers  the  long  roll  of  martyrs  and  mission- 
aries who  planted  the  Church  of  Christ  in  their  own  blood, 


36       CENTENNIAL  OF  THE  ORGANIZATION  OF 

and  reared  it  to  modern  Christendom  by  the  sacrifice  of  self 
and  all  that  men  hold  dear  upon  the  service  of  the  Master  ; 
hers,  too,  are  the  soaring  liturgies,  rich  in  the  devotion  of  men 
whose  tongues  were  yet  glowing  with  the  warmth  of  the 
Pentecostal  tire  ;  and  hers,  too,  the  unity  of  her  faith  and 
orders  with  their  divine  Source  and  Warrant,  in  the  unbroken 
line  of  her  ministry  and  bishops  for  well-nigh  nineteen 
centuries. 

Nor  is  this  all  ;  not  only  does  she  rejoice  in  this  grand 
heritage  of  glory  and  of  blessing  from  the  past.  She  is  be- 
ginning more  and  more  to  feel  the  higli  responsibilities  and 
duties  that  lie  upon  her  for  the  future. 

The  world  is  weary  of  the  jars  and  alienations  of  a  rent 
and  self-dwariing  Christendom.  Men  say,  and  say  with  bitter 
truth,  "  If  you  have  the  one  same  spirit  of  the  Lord,  why  are 
ye  not  one  in  the  communion  and  unity  of  Christian  brother- 
hood ?"  Sin  holds  wild  riot  upon  every  hand,  and  the  nations 
grow  more  doubtful  of  the  divineness  of  our  whole  religion, 
while  they  wdio  claim  to  "bear  the  vessels  of  the  Lord" 
stand,  because  of  some  paltry  differences,  with  eyes  coldly 
averted  from  each  other,  and  leave  untaught,  unsaved,  the 
needing  millions  of  the  world  around.  Good  men  of  every 
name  are  yearning  more  and  more  to  find  some  way  by  which 
the  wounds  in  the  body  of  the  Church  may  be  closed  up  and 
healed,  and  with  us  more  than  any  other  lies  the  duty  and  the 
j)ossibility  of  searching  out  an  answer  to  this  call.  It  has  been 
said,  and  with  but  too  much  truth,  "  The  fathers  of  the 
Church  in  its  early  ages  marched  before  the  world  ;  the 
Church  of  to-day  lags  behind  it."  But  in  this  need  for 
Christian  unity  we  have  a  place,  and  ours  is  the  opportunity 
which,  if  we  rise  to  its  mighty  import,  wnll  show  the  Church 
again  as  the  great  leader  of  the  peoples  and  the  manifested 
presence  of  the  life  and  spirit  of  "  the  Master '  among  men. 

There  is  no  work  so  urgent  in  the  Christendom  of  our  time 
as  this  ;  the  way  to  it  may  not  as  yet  be  open  to  our  narrow 
vision  ;  the  means  may  not  be  fully  ready  for  the  doing  it  ;  but 


THE   CIIURCTI   IN"   NEW   JERSEY.  37 

with  the  great  prayer,  "  O  Father,  tJiat  they  all  may  be  one," 
in  our  hearts,  with  words  of  loving  and  pleading  brotherhood 
on  our  tongues,  with  hands  outstretched  to  touch  a  brother's 
hand  wherever  we  may  find  response  in  our  actions — that  spirit 
will  become  a  power  and  a  reality,  and  the  same  Lord  who  by 
His  Word,  and  Spirit  brought  order  into  the  chaos  of  the 
primal  elements  will  by  them  also  bring  unity  again  into 
'•  the  Church"  which  is  the  living  body  of  His  love. 

The  little  band  of  three,  whose  meeting  in  this  place  a 
hundred  years  ago  we  celebrate  to-day,  had  their  hearts  anxious 
not  only  with  the  upbuilding  of  the  Church  in  their  own 
State,  but,  far  more  than  that,  with  the  yearning  thoughts 
how  there  might  soon  be  wrought  such  union  of  the  then 
separated  fragments  of  the  Church  scattered  in  weakness  and 
isolation  through  various  portions  of  the  land,  as  should 
inspire  them  with  the  power  and  efficiency  of  one  living 
Avliole.  Their  prayers  and  eiforts  have  been  richly  answered. 
In  our  State  two  dioceses,  with  two  hundred  ministers  upon 
their  clergy  lists,  now  re]')resent  the  outgro\vth  from  that 
feeble  waiting  three  ;  and  in  the  century  of  the  nation  more 
than  sixty  dioceses  and  missionary  fields  and  thirty-six  hun- 
dred clergy  have  come  as  the  firstfruits  of  the  unity  and  work 
togetlier  of  that  Church  as  one. 

In  a  few  short  hours  we  shall  have  parted  hence  to  our 
several  dioceses  and  our  distant  fields  of  labor  and  of  life; 
The  volume  of  one  century  of  the  Church  in  our  State  and 
nation  will  be  closed  forever,  and  the  pages  of  another  opened. 
We  shall  kneel  here  together  around  the  one  table  of  the  Lord, 
and  pray  together  as  "  very  members  incorporate  in  the 
mystical  body  of  thy  Son,  which  is  the  blessed  company  of  all 
faithful  people."  Shall  we  not  make  it  the  burden  of  our 
prayer  and  of  our  holy  "  offering"  to-day  that  they  who  shall 
come  here  in  our  places  at  the  end  of  another  hundred  years 
may  look  out  on  a  Christendom  not  marred,  as  now,  with 
bickering  and  alien  "  communions,"  not  jjaralyzed  by  narrow 
factions  and  discordant  interests,  not  uttering  dire  anathemas 


38  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OEGANIZATION   OF 


against  tlieir  differing  brethren  in  tbe  Gospel,  but — even  more 
abundantly  tban  we  rejoice  in  the  unity  and  loving  brotber- 
hood  wbicb  binds  our  clinrcbes  over  all  this  land  in  one  —they 
may  be  glad  in  the  far  larger  and  more  blessed  oneness  of  the 
"universal  CJiurch,  inspired  continually  and  in  all  its  parts 
with  tlie  spirit  of  truth,  unity,  and  concord,"  and  that  there 
may  be  realized  in  them  the  fulfilment  and  answer  of  the 
hymn — half  prophecy,  half  prayer — sung  at  the  consecration 
of  Bishop  Seabury. 

lie  was  about  to  go  forth,  with  only  the  hand  of  fellow- 
ship, from  the  poor  and  despised  Church  in  Scotland,  as  the 
first  bishop  of  the  little  company  that  formed  his  church  in 
the  new  nation  just  born  beyond  the  waters  ;  and  as  lie  stood, 
with  mingled  joy  and  fear,  in  that  humble  chapel,  "  the 
upper  room  in  a  narrow  lane"  *  of  Aberdeen,  where  he  was 
ordained,  those  who  were  gathered  there  to  wish  hi  in  God- 
speed on  his  uncertain  mission  sang  with  him  : 

"  To  all  Thy  servants,  Lord,  let  this 
Thy  wondrous  work  be  known  ;  • 
And  to  onr  off  sirring  yet  unborn 
Thy  glorious  power  be  shown." 

"  Let  Thy  bright  rays  upon  us  shine, 
Give  Thou  our  work  success  ; 
The  glorious  work  we  have  in  hand 
Do  Thou  vouchsafe  to  bless." 

Amen  and  Amen. 

The  Sermon  being  ended,  Benedictus  qui  nienit  was  sung 
as  an  Offertory  Anthem,  and  the  offerings  were  divided 
equally  between  the  two  dioceses. 

After  the  Prayer  of  Consecration,  the  hymn  "  Bread  of 
Heaven,  on  Thee  we  Feed,"  was  sung  to  the  tune  of  Clap- 
ha7n.     A  very  large  number  of  communicants  received.     Im- 


*  Beardsley's  Life  of  Bishop  Seabury,  p.  144.  The  street  in  which  the 
chapel  stood  was  called  Longacre  Lane.  The  Psalm  was  the  Ninetieth  in 
Tate  and  Bradj-. 


THE   CHURCH   IX   XEW   JERSEY.  39 


mediately  after  the  blessing,  the  Nunc  Dimlttis  to  Tonus- 
Hegius  was  sung,  followed  by  the  retrocessional,  "  Angel 
Yoices  ever  Singing,"  by  Sullivan. 

At  2  P.M.  the  bishops,  clergy,  and  laity,  including  many 
ladies,  were  handsomely  entertained  at  a  collation  in  Recre- 
ation Hall, 

At  3:30  P.M.  the  three  bishops  took  seats  upon  a  platform 
at  the  east  end  of  the  Hall,  and  the  concourse  drew  about 
them  in  a  large  semicircle. 

The  Bishop  of  Xew  Jerse^y  called  the  assembly  to  order, 
and  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  Thus  far,  our  centenary  has  been  a  grand  success.  The 
day,  the  service,  the  sermon,  have  been  all  we  could  ask  and 
more.  We  have  just  come  from  Christ  Church  where  we 
broke  bread  together  at  the  Lord's  table,  and  now  we  are 
assembled  here,  bishops,  clergy,  and  laity  at  the  social  feast 
and  for  the  interchange  of  kindly  greetings.  The  beautiful 
service  of  the  morning  was  no  inapt  emblem  of  the  Church's 
growth  and  progress,  during  her  tirst  century  of  organic  life 
in  New  Jersey.  The  little  band  of  churchmen  who  met  here 
a  hundred  years  ago,  to  found  a  diocese,  had  to  content  them- 
selves with  very  little  in  the  way  of  beauty  and  grandeur,  in 
things  temporal  and  spiritual.  Could  they  have  been  with 
us  this  morning,  the  fruits  of  their  labor  would  have  been,  1 
am  sure,  a  glad  surprise  to  them. 

''  We  are  all  deeply  indebted  to  the  Choir  Guild  of  the 
diocese  audits  precentor,  for  the  inspiring  service,  and  I  tender 
to  them  my  sincerest  thanks  and  congratulations.  As  the  old- 
est bishop  in  office  on  the  present  occasion,  it  will  be  my  duty 
and  pleasure  to  introduce  the  speakers.  Let  us  not  miss  the 
lesson  of  the  day.  We  look  back  through  a  hundred  years  of 
mercies,  not  as  though  our, work  were  finished — not  that  we 
may  fold  our  hands  in  idleness — but  that  we  may  gather  new 
inspiration  and  courage  from  the  past,  and  begin  the  history 
of  another  century  with  high  hopes  and  new  resolves. 

"  We  are  favored  in  having  with  us  to-day  the  Bishop  of 
Northern  New  Jersey  and  a  goodly  number  of  the  clergy  and 
laity  of  his  diocese.  They  are  here,  not  as  our  o^uests,  but  of 
right,  as  sharing  equally  with  us  in  the  glories  of  Aew  Jerse^'^s 
past.     AVe  are  two  bands  indeed,  as  the  preacher  of  this  morn- 


40  CENTENISriAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATIOlSr   OF 


ing  told  lis,  l)iit  we  are  one  in  our  rejoicings  and  one  in  our 
pride  of  spiritual  ancestry.  And  while  each  diocese  has  its 
own  separate  interests,  I  trust  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
the  life  and  growing  strength  of  both  will  be  unified  and 
cemented  into  the  Province  of  New  Jersey. 

"The  Bishop  of  Pittsbnrgh,  who  has  crossed  the  Alle- 
ghenies  to  be  with  lis  and  share  with  us  in  our  joy,  has  a  pre- 
eminent right  to  speak  on  a  New  Jersey  day.  A  long  line  of 
noble  ancestry  binds  him  both  to  Church  and  State,  and  we 
feel  specially  honored  by  his  presence.  His  diocese  is  my  old 
home  ;  his  friends  are  my  friends.  We  have  much  in  com- 
mon, and  I  take  great  pleasure  in  bidding  him  welcome  to  his 
old  family  roof-tree  to-day. 

"We  have  with  us  representatives  of  Bishop  Croes,  the 
first  Bishop  of  New  Jersey,  in  the  persons  of  his  grand-chil- 
dren, whom  we  greet  most  cordially.  And  we  most  sincerely 
regret  tiie  absence  of  the  Bishop  of  Albany,  who,  it  was 
hoped,  might  be  here  to  represent  a  name  greatly  honored  in 
N^ew  Jersey.  Unfortunately,  pressing  duties  have  detained 
him.  The  Assistant-Bishop  of  New  York,  unable  to  be  pres- 
ent himself,  has  very  courteously  sent  one  to  represent  him, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Tiffany,  Mdiom  we  welcome  here,  both  for  his 
own  sake  and  the  sake  of  the  bishop  who  sends  him. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  is  presiding,  at  this  hour, 
over  his  own  Convention,  and,  of  course,  could  not  join  us. 

"  The  distinguished  company  I  see  before  me,  attest  by 
their  j^resence,  the  interest  they  feel  in  our  anniversary.  I 
thank  them  all,  clergy  and  laity,  for  their  honoring  us,  and  1 
ask  them  now  to  listen  to  other  and  better  words  than  I  can 
give  them." 

The  Bishop  of  Northern  New"  Jersey  being  then  intro- 
duced, said  : 

"  Rt.  Rev.  Sir,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  Our  celebration 
to-day  has  less  the  character  of  a  commemoration  than  of  a 
review.  We  are  looking  back  over  the  history  of  a  hundred 
years  of  our  Church-life,  not  so  much  to  take  note  of  an  event, 
as  to  measure  our  progress.  Such  a  retrospect  does  not  min- 
ister to  mere  sentiment  ;  it  awakens  gratitude  and  stimulates 
to  new  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  work  which  God  has  given  us 
to  do. 

"  For  myself  as  I  look  back  through  my  mental  telescope 


THE   CHURCH   IN^   XE\y   JERSEY.  41 


at  the  time  preceding  our  Eevolntionary  stnio-o-le  to  the  cen- 
turies which  preceded  our  ol)tainini2:  tlie  Episcopate,  I  see  a 
background  chaotic  and  confused.  1  do  not  mean  to  sav  that 
it  was  chaotic  and  confused,  but  only  that  it  looks  so  to  me,  as 
I  view  it  through  my  telescope  to-day.  The  things  of  which 
we  read — the  colonial  clergy,  the  Bishop  of  Loudon,  the 
commissaries,  the  efforts  to  persuade  the  English  Government 
to  do  what  it  once  or  twice  seemed  about  to  do,  but  always 
ended  by  not  doing — that  is,  to  give  the  colonies  a  bishop,  all 
this  seems  confusion  through  my  glass  ;  much  as  the  surface 
of  the  moon  does  to  one  who  is  not  an  adept,  when  he  looks 
at  it  through  his  material  and  actual  telescope.  There  is  no 
Church  in  those  old  days.  IN^o  power  of  self-sustentation, 
much  less  of  propagation.  The  tree  has  no  seed-bag  ;  the 
plant  grows  under  glass.  Remove  the  protecting  cover  and 
let  the  cold  wind  in  and  it  must  die.  There  are  no  confirma- 
tions ;  no  ordinations.  If  there  is  a  priest  found  here  and 
there,  he  has  had  to  go  elsewhere  to  obtain  his  priesthood. 
The  only  figures  that  arrest  my  eye  are  of  two  men,  who  seem 
to  stand  out  at  last  from  the  confusion.  They  bear  in  their 
hands  neither  key  nor  pastoral  staff  ;  but  are  like  the  figures 
of  old  saints  that  one  occasionally  sees  painted  on  canvas,  or 
on  glass  in  cathedral  windows.  Each  bears  in  his  hands  the 
similitude  and  likeness  of  a  church.  These  figures  are  of 
Seabury  and  White.  They  bring  the  Church  to  where  it  did 
not  exist  before.  It  becomes  native  to  the  soil.  The  cover- 
ing of  glass  is  no  more  needed  ;  its  roots  have  struck  deep 
down  into  our  American  life. 

"  My  own  recollection  reaches  back  over  only  a  segment 
of  this  circle  of  one  hundred  years  ;  yet  even  I  can  recall  a 
good  deal.  I  can  recall  something  of  the  cold,  respectable, 
but  by  no  means  utterly  unspiritnal  life  that  ruled  before  the 
Evangelical  party  came  to  kindle  it  with  new  fire,  whose  un- 
ruly blaze  they  were  often  unaV)le  to  control.  How  cold  those 
old  days  of  high  and  dry  churchmanship  were  !  When  men 
came  into  church  and  would  not  kneel  but  stood  to  whisper 
their  silent  prayer  before  service  in  the  hollow  of  their  hats 
held  daintily  and  decorously  before  their  faces.  The  Evan- 
gelicals made  havoc  with  some  of  the  old  proprieties.  But 
they  taught  men  what  had  been  half-forgotten,  viz.,  that 
religion  has  its  subjective  side.  The}^  preached  Christ  and 
the  power  of  the  Spirit  ;  and  that  men  should  go  out  from 
themselves  and  think  of  others.     Their  nei>lect  of  sacramental 


42  CENTENlSriAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION    OF 


teaching;,  their  forgetfuhiess — sometimes  tlieir  almost  ignoring 
of  the  Church — was  the  natural  and  excessive  rebomid  from 
what  had  gone  before.  They  did  good  work  not  unmixed 
with  evil  ;  but  good  work  wdiich  the  Church  needed.  They 
are  now  fast  passing  aw^ay.  All  honor  to  their  memory.  We 
w^ill  cover  with  a  numtle — for  the  sake  of  the  good  they  did — 
the  recollection  of  their  faults.  Their  work  is  in  the  founda- 
tion of  this  Church,  like  concerete  in  a  strong  wall.  I  do  not 
see  how,  in  their  day,  a  day  now  past,  we  could  have  done 
without  them. 

"  Since  then  new  men  have  risen  up  and  new  schools. 
When,  the  time  cauie  that  our  fathers  needed  to  be  reminded 
that  the  Church  was  Evangelical,  the  message  came  ;  and  again 
when  the  balance  seemed  almost  lost,  through  the  force  of  a 
too  sharp  specialism,  then  the  Catholic  message  came  to  restore 
the  equilibrium.  But  the  two  lessons  are  not  new  lessons. 
The  Clmrcli  has  had  both  from  the  beginning.  They  were 
but  different  sides  of  the  one  truth  ;  each  true  yet  each  liable 
to  be  joressed  into  distortion  by  too  eager  and  short-seeing 
advocates.  Men,  perhaps,  liked  one  side  better  than  the 
other,  and  loving  it  better,  learned  to  believe  in  it  almost  ex- 
clusively. Single  truths  are  always  narrow,  sharp,  and  force- 
ful, but  the  whole  truth  is  made  up  of  many  narrow  edges, 
which  bound  in  one  without  losing  the  sharpness  of  each  are 
together  broad. 

"  And  now,  to  look  forw\ard  to  the  future,  I  hold,  Rt. 
Rev.  Father,  that  our  success  under  God  in  extending  the 
Church  M'ill  depend  upon  our  being  able  to  present  to  men 
each  side  of  the  truth  wdiich,  because  we  are  Catholic,  and 
not  sectarian,  we  hold.  For  myself  I  am  a  Catholic,  but  I 
am  also  Evangelical  ;  not  tlie  less  Evangelical  for  being 
Catholic,  but  all  the  more  each  for  being  also  the  other.  But 
men  will  always  press  forward  most  earnestly  the  side  which 
they  most  admire.^  Can  we  learn  to  bear  with  those  who  do 
so,  until  we  come  gradually  to  one  mind  ?  Can  we  learn  to 
be  comprehensive  not  of  error  or  unbelief  or  heresy,  but  of 
truths  presented  perhaps  sometimes  in  a  one-sided  way,  but 
yet  in  a  way  which  does  not  ignore  the  other  side  ?  1  think 
we  can.  It  is  with  this  hope  and  belief  that  I  look  forward 
to  the  future.  Its  responsibilities  for  us  who  labor  on,  are  to 
be  measured  as  we  cannot  measure  them,  by  those  who  are  to 
look  back  upon  the  work  we  are  doing  now,  from  the  stand- 
point of  another  hundred  years." 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JERSEY.  43 


The  Bishop  of  Pittsburgh  said  : 

"  If  age  and  wisdom  give  the  right  to  speak,  then  surely 
I  sliould  be  excused  from  speaking,  for  I  still  have  the  pre- 
eminence of  being  the  youngest  member  of  the  House  of 
Bishoi)s,  and  I  would  fain  keep  silence  and  heed  in  the  pres- 
ence of  my  Rt.  Rev,  Brethren.  I  must  content  myself  with 
telling  you  why  1  was  so  ready  to  come  to  this  joyous  cele- 
bration. 

"  The  broad -hearted  and  broad-minded  Bishop  Doane 
was  among  the  originators  of  the  I^ew  Jersey  Historical 
Society.  He  advocated  it  as  one  agency  for  unifying  the 
State.  He  complained  that  there  was  lack  of  interest  and 
lack  of  community  of  feeling  on  the  part  of  Jerseymen^ — that 
New  York  on  the  one  side,  and  Philadelphia  on  the  other, 
drew  off  too  much  the  attention  of  the  population  lying  be- 
tween— and  so  he  labored  most  earnestly  for  the  establishment 
of  societies  and  institutions  which  should  turn  the  eyes  of 
Jerseymen  more  toward  their  own  heritage  and  make  them 
proud  of  it. 

"  He  was  chosen  to  deliver  tlie  First  Annual  Address  be- 
fore the  Society,  January  I5th,  1846  ;  and  it  may  be  that 
some  of  the  elder  clergymen  and  laymen  here  present  may 
remember  the  opening  paragraph  of  that  address. 

"He  tells  how,  in  the  English  town  of  Lincoln,  as  he 
walked  beneath  and  past  the  Pomnn  archway  which  is  called 
the  Newport  Gate,  musing  upon  the  vicissitudes  of  time  which 
that  old  gate  had  seen — suddenly  there  stood  out  before  him 
on  a  street  corner,  in  black  letters,  on  a  plain  deal  board,  the 
words,  '  New  Jersey.' 

"Instantly  'his  heart  was  in  his  mouth.'  He  says, 
'  Romans,  Danes,  English,  all  were  gone.  Country  and 
friends  and  home  were  all  about  me.'  '  I  stood  a  Jerseyman 
and  in  New  Jersey.' 

"  So  must  it  ever  be  I  think,  with  one  who  belongs  within 
this  favored  State,  and  I  come  to-day  a  M-itness  to  this  patriotic 
feeling  for  old  New  Jersey.  I  do  iiot  apologize  for  boasting 
that  my  father  was  a  Jerseyman,  and  my  grandfather  and 
great-grandfather,  and  I  know  not  how  many  generations  be- 
fore him  ;  and  that  all  of  them  were  without  exception  church- 
men,  prominent  in  parochial  matters,  prominent  in  the  affairs 
of  this  diocese  almost  from  its  organization,  prominent  in  the 
(General  Convention  during  the  early  days  as  later  ;  and  one 


44  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 


of  them  sent  by  tlie  Society  for  tlie  Propagation  of  tlie  Gospel 
as  Missionary  to  Pertli  Amboy  as  early  as  1722. 

"  Being  thus  '  an  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,'  when  tlie  in- 
vitation came  to  participate  in  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  this 
most  interesting  occasion,  my  heart  most  eagerly  responded. 
1  gladly  claimed  my  right  to  come,  first  by  your  courtesy  and 
then  by  heritage.  Thus  do  all  the  sons  of  Jersey  love  to 
honor  her. 

"  And  there  is  another  reason  why  I  ought  to  come. 
When,  as  a  deacon,  I  stood  before  the  beloved  Odenheimer, 
his  judgment  did  not  approve  my  determination  to  go  to  Col- 
orado for  the  first  years  of  work,  but,  yielding  to  my  impor- 
tunity, he  finally  gave  his  unreserved  blessing,  clainn'ng,  how- 
ever, that  I  still  owed  him  the  year's  work,  which  the  bishop 
has  a  right  to  recpiire  of  every  deacon.  That  debt  remains 
unpaid  as  yet  ;  but  I  stand  ready  to  pay  it,  as  I  can  by  attend- 
ance upon  festivities,  or  participation  in  labors,  if  ever  my 
brother,  the  Bishop  of  New  Jersey,  should  wish  to  go  away  ! 

"  1  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  of  this  noble  diocese,  and 
retnrn  to  my  work  stimulated  by  what  I  have  heard  and  seen 
to-day.  1  thank  you  for  permitting  me  to  join  with  you  on 
this  joyous  occasion.  Beyond  the  Alleghenies  we  have  a  hard 
missionary  work  to  do.  A  solid  wall  of  prejudice  environs 
us,  and  against  it  we  make  but  slow  and  tedious  progress. 
But  when  we  heard  to-day  the  wondrous  story  of  the  begin- 
ning and  progress  of  this  diocese,  new  courage  and  strength 
came  to  my  heart.  May  God's  best  blessings  be  bestowed 
upon  the  Diocese  of  New  Jersey.  The  little  one  has  become 
a  thousand — the  small  one  a  strong  nation.  May  it  be  so 
everywhere  !     May  the  Lord  hasten  it  in  His  time  !" 

The  Rev.  C.  C.  Tiffany,  D.D.,  Eector  of  Zion  Church  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  said.  : 

"  Rev.  Fathers  and  Brethren  :  I  come  to  give  you  greet- 
ing from,  the  diocese  of  New  York.  The  Assistant-Bishop  has 
sent  me  as  his  chaplain,  to  represent  him,  because  he  could 
not  come  himself,  and  he  was  unwilling  that  no  word  of  wel- 
come should  be  spoken  from  his  diocese,  so  near  to  your  own, 
but  not  more  near  than  dear.  1  find  myself  in  an  embarrass- 
ing position,  for  our  Bishop  is,  we  think,  so  sure  to  say  the 
apt  word  in  the  most  fitting  manner  that  one  hesitates  to  repre- 
sent him.     But,  as  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  said  when  called 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JERSEY.  45 


upon  to  take  the  place  of  Edward  Everett,  '  I  shall  not  at- 
tempt to^pll  his  place,  but  1  M'ill  rattle  around  in  it  the  l)est  I 
know  how.' 

"  Though  Xew  York  greets  New  Jersey  to-day  through 
the  chaplain,  instead  of  the  Bishop,  the  greeting  is  as  liearty 
and  full.  We  congratulate  you  on  the  past  and  wish  you  yet 
greater  good  for  the  future.  An  assembly  of  three  clegrymen 
and  seven  or  eight  laymen,  one  hundred  years  ago,  may  seem 
to  some  an  insignificant  event  which  might  well  pass  without 
a  centennial  celel)ration.  But  that  fact  stood  for  a  great  prin- 
ciple, and  apart  from  its  fruits  in  the  existence  of  two  dioceses 
and  two  hundred  clergymen,  is  a  principle  worthy  of  reiterated 
emphasis.  For  when  churchmen  come  together,  they  stand 
for  the  grand  Gospel  principle  of  '  Unity,  inclusive  of  diver- 
sity,' as  contrasted  with  the  denominational  principle,  which 
seems  to  be  a  new  sect  for  every  varying  ojjinion  in  theology 
and  every  differing  mode  of  worship.  The  Church  principle 
is  this,  '  Diversities  of  gifts  but  the  same  Spirit ;  differences 
of  administration  but  the  same  Lord.'  Tliat  is,  the  Church 
stands  for  com2:)reliension  not  exclusion,  for  the  widest  Cathol- 
icity compatible  with  fidelity  to  the  Faith.  When,  therefore, 
amid  different  elements,  churchmen  meet,  whether  there  be 
three  or  three  thousand,  their  meeting  is  significant  of  the 
liberty  '  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,'  freedom  from 
the  opinions  of  men,  because  the  freedom  of  the  Faith. 

"  The  Bishop  of  jSIorthern  New  Jersey  has  said  so  many 
things  I  indorse  ;  the  whole  tenor  of  his  s^Deech  was  so  admir- 
able, that  it  is,  perhaps,  captious  to  object  to  one  expression 
to  which  I  took  exception,  though  very  likely  on  explana- 
tion, I  should  find  we  meant  the  same  thing.  But  I  under- 
stood him  to  say  we  needed  to  be  narrow  in  order  to  be  effec- 
tive. I  grant  vre  must  be  concentrated  and  live  by  St.  Paul's 
principle,  '  this  one  thing  I  do  ;  '  but  concentration  is  not  nar- 
row ;  it  is  the  condensing  of  broad  powers  to  a  single  task. 
The  effectiveness  of  the  wedge  is  not  due  more  to  the  sharp- 
ness of  its  edge  than  to  the  breadth  of  its  back.  A  thin  sheet 
of  metal  will  pierce  the  trunk  but  M'ill  sink  into  it,  be  held  by 
it  and  disappear.  The  wedge,  by  reason  of  its  broad  base, 
will  rive  tlie  trunk  asunder.  We  must  have  back  of  our 
single  action,  broad  sympathies  and  comprehensive  views  ;  a 
generous  catholicity  of  heart  and  mind,  if  our  single  strokes 
are  to  be  effective.  Such,  it  strikes  me,  is  one  significance  of 
the  Church  idea,  which   one  hundred  years  ago  to-day  was 


46  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 


organized  in  this  State  and  diocese.  To  administer  the  Clnircli 
efllcientlj,  we  most  administer  it  as  the  Chnrch-^not  as  a  sect 
— and,  therefore,  in  no  narrow  spirit  of  proscription  bnt  in  the 
spirit  of  the  largest  fellowship  with  those  who  hold  the  com- 
mon aim  and  are  eager  to  work  for  it,  albeit  by  somewhat  dif- 
ferent methods  and  with  somewhat  divergent  opinions.  We 
are  to  hold  to  the  One  Body,  bnt  not  to  forget  that  there  are 
many  members,  and  that  these  have  not  all  the  same  office, 
and  we  are  to  recognize  that  trne  Catliolicity  is  not  mere  nni- 
formity  in  thonght  or  taste  or  act,  bnt  nnit_y  amid  diversity." 

The  Eev.  George  Morgan  Hills,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Bnrling- 
ton,  said  : 

"  Whenever  I  have  heard  the  word  '  centennial '  in  con- 
nection with  this  occasion,  I  have  feared  that  to  those  not 
acqnainted  with  the  past,  it  might  be  misleading.  All  throngh 
the  centnry  before  1TS5,  the  Church  was  planted  and  liourisli- 
ing  in  New  Jersey.  Many  conventions  of  clergy  were  held 
and  important  business  was  transacted.  So  that  if  tlie  beginning 
of  the  Church  here  were  being  connnemorated,  this  would  be 
in  reality  a  bi-centennial.  Two  liundred  years  ago,  the  Rev. 
Edward  Fortlock  began  work  at  Perth  Amboy,  which  chro- 
nologically leads  all  the  parishes  in  the  State.  In  1698,  Feb- 
ruary 23d,  the  Governor  and  Council  of  East  Xew  Jersey 
'  returned  the  thanks  of  their  Board  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Edward 
Portlock,  authorized  pastor  of  the  Jerseys,  for  the  sermon  he 
preached  before  the  General  Assembly,  yesterday  afternoon.' 
Observe  the  title  given  to  Mr.  Portlock  in  this  extract  from 
their  Journal — '  authorized  pastor  of  the  Jerseys.'  It  shows 
a  churehmanship  founded  on  intelligence  and  conviction, 
which  has  dominated  in  New  Jersey  from  that  day  to  this. 
And  who  was  the  Governor  of  the  Province  at  that  time  ? 
The  Hon.  Jeremiah  Bass,  a  man  of  culture  and  devotion  and 
zeal  for  the  Church,  which  shows  itself  in  all  his  letters  and 
papers,  down  to  his  last  will  and  testament  ;  a  layman  who 
knew  whereof  he  affi.rmed  when  he  traced  his  ecclesiastical 
lineage  through  the  Church  of  England  to  the  Catholic  Church 
of  the  first  ages.  He  was  the  earliest  historian  of  the  Church 
in  New  Jersey,  and  his  little  monograph  of  twelve  octavo 
pages  is  still  extant. 

"  The  sliip  Centurion,  a  transcript  of  whose  log  on  that 
memorable  voyage  is   now   in  my  possession,   brought  over 


THE   CHURCH   IN   XEW   JERSEY.  47 


Keitli  and  Talbot,  tlie  first  missionaries  of  tlie  Society  for 
Propnp;ating'  tlie  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  Mr.  Talbot  laid 
the  corner-stone  of  tlie  clinrcli  in  Ilurlington,  and  shortly 
after  settled  there,  but  never  gave  np  missionary  work  through- 
out East  and  West  Jersey.  He  saw  at  the  outset  the  great 
need  of  a  bishop  in  the  colonies  '  to  visit  all  the  churches,  to 
ordain  some,  to  confirm  others,  and  bless  all,'  and  to  secure 
one,  he  strove  with  all  his  powers.  lie  was  so  far  successful, 
that  in  1712  the  Society  bought  a  '  great  and  stately  palace  ' 
Avith  fifteen  acres  of  land,  in  Burlington,  for  a  bisliop's  seat. 
A  bill  was  ordered  to  be  drafted  to  be  oifered  in  Parliament, 
for  establishing  bishoprics  in  America,  and  Burlington  was 
designated  as  the  first  American  See.  But  Queen  Anne,  the 
great  patroness  of  the  project,  died,  and  the  House  of  Hanover 
began  to  reign.  The  colonies  were  not  in  any  diocese,  nor, 
at  that  time,  in  even  the  nominal  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of 
London.  Letters-patent  from  the  Crown  M'ere  deemed  neces- 
sary to  constitute  this  relation  of  the  See  of  London  wnth 
America,  and  Bishop  Gibson  refused  to  take  them  out.  Tal- 
bot, in  despair,  braved  the  odium  of  the  act,  and,  in  1722  re- 
ceived consecration  from  a  nonjuring  bishop,  and  returned  to 
his  beloved  America.  In  1723  he  set  up  the  bi-daily  service 
through  the  year  and  the  weekl_y  eucharist,  and  was  '  in  labors 
more  abundant '  than  ever  before.  When,  two  years  later,  he 
was  informed  against  as  being  in  the  nonjuring  episcopate, 
he  was  discharged  from  the  service  of  the  S.  P.  G.,  and 
ordered  by  the  Governor  of  the  Province  to  '  surcease 
officiating.'  l^otwithstanding  remonstrances  and  memorials, 
he  was  left  to  die,  a  confessor  for  the  truth. 

"  On  his  widow's  will  in  the  otfice  of  the  Register  in 
Philadelphia,  1  discovered  in  1875,  the  impression  of  his  Epis- 
copal seal,  a  mitre  with  fiowing  ribbons,  and  beneath  it,  all 
the  letters  of  both  his  names  ingeniously  wrought  into  a  mon- 
ogram. 

"  Time  will  not  admit  of  further  allusions  to  men  and 
deeds  which  might  be  made  in  connection  with  the  venerable 
13arishes  of  Shrewsbury,  and  Elizabeth,  and  Salem,  and  Mount 
Holly,  and  ISTew  Brunswick,  and  Trenton,  and  a  dozen  others, 
to  say  nothing  of  those  within  the  bounthiries  of  the  present 
diocese  of  ]S"orthern  Kew  Jerse)'.  Indeed  there  is  more  of 
incident  in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  J^ew  Jersey  than  in 
that  of  any  other  State. 

"  I  can  only  touch  upon  one  other  illustrious  name.     The 


48  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OEGANIZATION   OF 


Hon.  Daniel  Coxe,  one  of  the  original  corporators  of  St. 
Mary's  Clinrch,  Burlington,  and  afterward  an  Associate  Justice 
of  tiie  Supreme  Court  of  New  Jersey,  in  1722  published  '  A 
Description  of  the  English  Province  of  Carolana,'  in  the  Pref- 
ace of  which  he  formulated  the  scheme  of  confederation  which, 
more  than  a  half  century  later,  was  used  to  bind  together  the 
Thirteen  United«States. 

"  To  New^  Jersey,  therefore,  belongs  the  honor  of  having 
not  only  the  first  designated  American  See,  the  first  Episcopal 
residence,  and  the  first  bishop  in  America,  but  the  first  Amer- 
ican statesman  in  the  person  of  Daniel  Coxe,  a  churchman 
equal  to  the  best. 

"  The  stone  which  covers  his  grave  is  in  the  floor  at  the 
head  of  the  nave  in  the  old  church  of  St.  Mary,  in  Burhng- 
ton.  Peace  to  his  ashes,  and  may  light  perpetual  shine  upon 
him  !" 


The  Rev.  Edsvard  B.  Boggs,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  the 
Convention  of  the  Diocese  of  Northern  New  Jersey,  said  : 

"  I  presume,  Et.  Rev.  Fathers,  that  in  years  I  am  among 
the  oldest  of  the  clergy  present,  certainly  oldest  of  those  born 
in  New  Jersey,  and  the  Bishop  of  New  Jersey  seems  to  imply 
that  it  is  greatly  to  his  credit  that  he  is  a  Jerseyman.  But  a 
bishop  is  e.v-officio  older  and  wiser  than  any  presbyter,  and, 
therefore,  I  will  not  presume  in  what  I  shall  say,  to  attempt 
to  teach  those  so  much  older  and  wnser  ex-officio  than  myself. 
The  Bishop  has  kindly  s2:)oken  of  my  birthplace  near  this  spot. 
When  a  boy  I  used  to  come  out  and  stand  near  here  to  see  the 
stages  come  down  the  hill  with  the  passengers  from  Philadel- 
phia— that  was  before  the  days  of  raih'oads,  and  I  coasted 
down  the  same  hill  in  winter.  Wonderful  are  the  clianges 
and  developments  in  material  things  that  1  have  seen  in  the 
half  century  and  more  1  can  remember,  and  these  changes 
and  growth  have  been  quite  as  striking  in  Church  as  in  State. 
Though  ex-ojjicio  not  so  old  a  man  as  my  Rt.  Rev.  Father  of 
New  Jersey,  I  can  in  facto  remember  what  he  cannot — viz., 
every  one  of  his  predecessors  in  the  Episcopate  of  this  diocese. 
I  was  held  at  the  font  in  the  arms  of  the  first  Bishop  of  New 
Jersey  ;  the  second  Bishop,  Doane,  laid  his  hands  on  ine  in 
ordination  to  the  diaconate  and  j^i'iesthood,  and  the  third  and 
last  Bishop    of   the  whole    State  appointed  me   the  General 


THE   CHTJECH  I]Sr   NEW   JERSEY.  49 


Missionary  under  himself  ;  so  tliat  1  liave  been  brought  into 
intimate  rehitions  with  every  Bishop  of  tliis  State. 

"  1  well  remember  the  first  Bishop,  Croes.  He  deserves 
more  credit  than  lias  been  given  him,  in  laying  carefully  and 
wisely  the  foundations  of  this  Ohurcli.  He  was  a  self-made 
man,  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution,  not,  perhaps,  so  learned  or 
brilliant  as  his  successors,  but  noted  for  plain  common-sense  ; 
a  man  highly  respected  and  loved  in  this  community  ;  econom- 
ical from  necessity,  but  liberal  from  principle  and  disposition  ; 
he  always  headed  the  subscription  list  for  every  worthy  ol)ject. 
He  was  rector  of  this  parish  as  well  as  bishop  of  the  diocese. 
Once  a  month  he  called  up  the  children  before  the  chancel, 
and  each  one  was  obliged  to  say  the  catechism.  He  always 
preached  in  black  silk  gloves,  and  had  a  pair  ready  to  lend  any 
brother  who  came  unprovided. 

"  A  great  deal  has  been  said  to-day  of  the  wonderful 
growth  of  the  Church  during  the  century  now  closing  ;  and 
statistics  have  been  quoted  showing  how  the  Church  in  this 
State  has  become  'two  bands.'  It  is  all  true,  I  have  seen 
much  of  it  myself  ;  let  us  thank  God  therefor,  and  take 
courage.  But  there  is  one  fact  of  Church  growth  of  great  im- 
portance, which  figures  cannot  show,  but  which,  in  my  opin- 
ion, is  worthy  of  being  set  forth  on  this  occasion.  I  mean  the 
quiet  influence  of  our  Church  in  diffusing,  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously to  themselves.  Catholic  Church  principles  among  other 
CUiristian  bodies.  1  well  remember  how  in  former  years  we 
were  laughed  at  for  keeping  Christmas  and  Easter,  and  as  for 
Good  Friday,  that  was  indeed  a  relic  of  Popery  !  And  flow- 
ers for  decorating  churches  were  an  abomination  !  "W^hile  now 
there  is  scarcely  a  denomination  in  the  land  that  does  not  imi- 
tate us  in  paying  attention  to  these  great  Church  festivals. 
And  each  of  these  daj's  is  commemorative  of  some  great  fact 
and  sets  forth  as  founded  on  that  fact  some  great  truth  of  our 
religion,  and  their  observance  must  tend  to  draw  all  Christians 
together  in  '  unity  of  doctrine.'  And  so  also  the  great  em- 
phasis laid  by  the  Church  on  the  necessity  for  a  valid  and 
regular  ordination  has  had  a  great  influence  in  teaching  all 
Christians  the  importance  of  an  ordination  or  solenm  setting 
apart  to  the  ministry,  and  1  need  not  tell  you  how  numy  have 
thereby  been  induced  to  examine  the  matter  for  themselves 
and  been  led  to  seek  for  an  apostolic  ordination.  And  so  also 
the  Prayer-book  is  teaching  men  the  beauty  of  '  comiiuin 
worship. '  This  quiet  work  of  our  Church  in  spreading  Catholic 
4 


50  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OEGANIZATION   OF 


princi^^les  is  a  veiy  important  element  in  promoting  Christian 
nnity.  We  cannot  expect  to  make  Protestant  Episcopalians 
of  all  people  ;  I,  for  one,  will  be  quite  thankful  if  we  can  make 
them  Catholic  Churchmen.  And  when  once  I  was  asked  by  a 
Presbyterian  pastor  to  come  to  his  kSunday-school  Christmas 
festival,  and  talk  Christmas  to  his  children,  because  I  must 
know  more  about  it  than  he  ;  and,  going,  found  a  responsive 
service  prepared  and  heartily  rendered,  with  chants  and 
hymns  ;  and  when,  at  another  time,  a  Dutch  Keformed  min- 
ister said  to  me,  '  You  don't  know  what  a  safeguard  you 
have  in  requiring  Episcopal  orders,  what  a  guarantee  it  is  to 
you  that  none  but  one  duly  orthodox  and  ordained  can  claim 
the  right  to  minister  in  your  churches ' — I  say  when  I  recall 
these  facts  and  others  like  them,  I  feel  that  the  work  of  our 
Church  has  been  far  wider  spread  and  more  useful  than  can 
possibly  be  known  by  any  list  of  churches,  ordinations,  and 
confirmations." 

The  Rev.  Nathaniel  Pettit,  President  of  the  Standing 
Committee  of  the  Diocese  of  New  Jersey,  then  read  the  fol- 
lowing ; 

A  veil  was  on.  the  people's  lieart  ; 

They  could  not  see,  nor  know 
Thy  glorious  beauty,  Mother  clear, 
A  hundred  years  ago. 
Thy  feeble  flocks  were  counted  biit  a  score, 
From  Sussex  hills  to  Cape  May's  sounding  shore. 

Fi'om  Europe,  agonized  with  strife. 

They  came  in  hostile  hosts, 
Each  with  a  fraction  of  the  truth 
To  these  New  Jersey  coasts. 
Yet,  her  did  they  dishonor  and  despise 
Whom  Jesus  taught,  beneath  Judea's  skies. 

Bi;t  Time  is  God's  own  angel  bright, 

T'  unseal  men's  holden  eyes, 
To  undeceive  the  honest  heart, 
Dispel  all  phantasies. 
Who  would  have  trod  thee  in  the  miry  street, 
Their  children  come  to  worship  at  thy  feet. 

All  blessed  be  the  memory 
Of  Croes,  glad  to  endure, 


THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JERSEY.  51 


Who  sought  with  tears,  the  scattered  sheep, 
O'er  inoimtain  and  o'er  moor. 
Teacher  and  i^riest  and  bishoj},  all  in  one, 
Till  resting  with  the  saints,  to  hear  "  Well  done." 

All  blessed  be  the  memorj'- 

Of  Doane,  so  brave,  so  strong, 
Who  lifted  up  the  cross  on  high. 
And  sang  the  triumph  song. 
"  Right  Onward  "  through  the  ancient  paths  he  trod  ; 
And  other  Chiirches  caiight  the  fire  of  God. 

All  blessed  be  the  memory 

Of  Odenheimer,  mild, 
Learned,  so  twU  of  sj'mpathy. 
So  pure  and  undefiled. 
Who  melted  brothers'  hearts  to  one  accord, 
And  unified  the  body  of  the  Lord. 

Sweet  Mother,  since  you  crossed  the  sea 

With  only  staff  in  hand, 
Thy  God  hath  blessed  thee  more  and  more, 
Made  thee  a  double  band. 
Two  hundred  spires  now  rise  to  kiss  the  skj', 
And  teach  men  faith  and  love  and  purity. 

All  glory  be  to  God  on  high. 

For  this  inheritance,  so  fair  ; 
And  may  we  still  increase  and  grow 
And  still  the  good  seed  bear, 
Till  sin  and  wrong  and  hate  shall  be  no  more, 
From  Siissex  hills  to  Cajje  May's  sounding  shore. 

Mr.  James  Parker,  of  Pertli  Ambo)',  read  tlie  following 
on  "  The  AVork  of  the  Laitj  in  the  Organization  of  the 
Church  after  tlie  Kevokition." 

"At  a  meeting  of  clergy  and  laity  held  in  this  city,  May 
11th,  178-1:,  the  only  laymen  present  were  John  Stevens, 
Itichard  Stevens,  .rohu  Dennis,  Colonel  John  Fornian,  Colonel 
Iloyt,  and  James  Parker,  all  Jerseymen. 

"  That  meeting  called  another  to  be  held  in  Xew  York, 
October  Oth,  1784.  At  the  latter,  New  Jersey  was  represented 
by  John  De  Hart,  one  of  the  best  lawyers  of  the  day,  who 


52  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OEGANIZATION   OF 


had  been  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  the  years 
'74,  '75,  and  part  of  '76,  and  John  Chetwood,  of  '  St.  John's,' 
Eh'zabethtown  ;  and  Samuel  Spragg-s,  of  '  St.  Andrews,' 
Mount  II  oil  J. 

"  It  was  there  resolved  that  there  should  be  a  General 
Convention  of  tiie  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  to 
be  organized  upon  principles,  the  fourtli  of  which  was — '  That 
the  said  Churcli  shall  maintain  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  as 
now  held  by  the  Churcli  of  England,  and  shall  adhere  to  the 
Liturgy  of  the  said  Church,  as  far  as  shall  be  consistent  with 
the  American  Revolution,  and  the  Constitutions  of  the  re- 
spective States.' 

"  That  principle  has  proved  to  be  the  safeguard  and 
cement  of  our  whole  Church  system  ;  it  expresses  the  truth 
which  enables  us  to  reach  back  through  the  ages,  both  in  mat- 
ters of  doctrine  and  worship,  even  to  our  Lord  Himself  ;  and 
to  claim  our  rightful  inheritance  as  a  branch  of  His  '  Holy, 
Catholic,  and  Apostolic  Church.' 

"  It  would  naturally  have  fallen  to  the  lawyers  of  that 
body  to  draw  up  the  declaration  of  principles  ;  and  the  double 
use  of  the  word  '  said  '  (a  lawyer's,  not  a  clergyman's  word), 
indicates  that  a  lawyer  did  draw  it.  It  is  a  model  of  terse- 
ness, not  a  word  too  many  or  one  too  few  ;  and,  from  original 
papers  in  my  possession,  and  from  after  events,  I  am  satistied 
that  John  De  Hart  was  the  author  of  this  fourth  article. 

''  According  to  the  recommendation  of  that  meeting,  the 
first  Convention  of  the  Church  in  this  State  (whose  Centennial 
we  are  now  keeping),  met  in  this  city,  July  6th,  1785.  It 
seems  only  to  have  listened  to  a  sermon  from  the  rector  of 
'  St.  Peters,'  Perth  Amboy  ;  and  to  have  appointed  Depnties 
to  the  General  Convention  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia.  These 
Deputies  were  clothed  with  power  '  to  accede,  on  the  part  of 
the  Church  in  New  Jersey,  to  the  fundamental  principles  pub- 
lished by  the  General  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  held  in  New  York,  October  6th  and  7th,  1784  ;  and 
to  adopt  such  measures  as  the  said  General  Convention  may 
deem  necessary,  for  the  utility  of  the  said  Church,  not  repug- 
nant to  tJie  aforesaid fimdamental  ■pri7iciples.'' 

"  The  General  Convention  met  September  27th,  1785, 
and  its  proceedings  caused  great  feeling  in  the  Church  gener- 
ally, and  particularly  in  this  State.  The  bitterneiss  engendered 
by  the  war  was  still  at  its  height,  and  there  was  a  very  ex- 
tended feeling,  even  within  the  Church,  that,  in  order  to  make 


THE  CHUKCii  IX  np:w  jeesey.  53 


the  Church  popiihir,  the  Book  of  Conunon  Prayer  should  be 
chanii'ed  to  afar  greater  extent  thau  was  j^-oposed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  October,  ITSi  ;  and  this  feelin<i;  was  strong 
enoui^'h  to  secure  the  adoption  by  the  Convention  of  May, 
17S5,  of  what  is  known  as  '  The  Proposed  Book  ;  '  Avliich 
latter  was  almost  entirely  the  work  of  the  Peverend  Drs.  Will- 
iam White  and  William  Smith. 

''  When  that  book  was  published  it  caused  much  anxiety  ; 
and  wlien  the  Convention  of  this  State  met  at  Perth  And)oy, 
May  Kith,  17S(),  it  at  once  became  the  subject  of  an  animated 
discussion. 

"  It  will  have  been  noted  how  careful  the  first  Conven- 
tion of  ]New  Jersey  had  been  to  instruct  its  Deputies  that  the 
fundamental  principles  set  forth  in  the  above  quoted  article 
fourtli,  should  govern  and  control  the  changes  to  be  made  in 
the  Liturgy. 

"  After  full  discussion,  the  changes  made  necessary  by 
the  new  political  conditions,  were  unanimously  approved,  and 
it  was  '  Resolved,  That  the  address  of  the  Convention  to  the 
Pight  Peverend,  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  in  England,  is 
very  agreeable  to  this  Convention.'  In  this,  the  hundredth 
year  after  it  was  written,  it  would  greatly  benefit  as  all,  to 
read  that  address  carefully  again.  It  was  drawn  by  Bishop 
White,  and  a  more  tender  appeal,  and  touching  '  of  the  mystic 
chords  of  memory  '  never  before,  and  but  once  since  (when 
Abraham  Lincoln  made  it  at  the  close  of  another  great 
war  between  brethren),  fell  from  pen  or  lips  of  mortal 
man. 

"  The  other  proposed  changes  were  not  approved  ;  and  a 
committee  consisting  of  Pev,  Abraham  Beach  and  four  lay- 
men— viz.,  John  De  Hart,  James  I*arker,  Matthias  Ilalsted, 
and  Henry  Waddel,  was  appointed  to  '  draft  a  ^Memorial  to  the 
General  Convention  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  the  ensuing 
month,  specifying  the  reasons  which  induced  the  Convention 
to  disapprove  the  proposed  alterations  in  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer. ' 

"Mr.  Parker,  from  the  connnittee,  reported  the  next 
morning  a  Memorial,  which  was  not  approved,  and  a  second 
committee — viz.,  Messrs.  De  Hart,  Parker  and  Ilalsted  (all 
laymen),  was  instructed  to  prepare  a  new  Memorial,  to  '  effect 
the  purpose  of  that  negatived.' 

"  The  committee"  on  the  next  day  presented  the  new 
Memorial,  which  was   '  read  by  paragraphs,  debated,  agreed 


54  CEISTTENXIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATIOIS'   OF 


to,  and  ordered  to  be  transcribed  and  signed  by  the  President,' 
and  sent. 

"  This  paper  prodnced  sncli  important  effects,  tliat  I  may 
be  i^ardoned  for  quoting  largely  from  it. 

"  After  stating  their  approval  of  the  changes  made  neces- 
sary by  the  new  political  relations,  the  Memorial  proceeds  : 
'  Your  memorialists  did  not  ratify,  but  disapproved  or  the 
other  parts  of  the  proceedings  of  the  said  late  General  Con- 
vention. Your  memorialists  do  not  question  the  right  of 
every  national  or  independent  Church  to  make  such  alterations, 
from  time  to  time,  in  the  mode  of  its  public  worship,  as,  upon 
mature  consideration,  may  be  found  expedient  ;  but  they 
doubt  the  right  of  any  order  or  orders  of  men  in  an  Episcopal 
Church  without  a  bishop,  to  make  any  alterations  not  war- 
ranted by  immediate  necessity  ;  especially  such  as  not  only  go 
to  the  mode  of  its  worship,  but  also  to  its  doctrines.  And 
they  are  very  apprehensive  that,  until  alterations  can  be  made 
consistent  with  the  customs  of  the  Primitive  Church,  and 
with  the  rules  of  the  Church  of  England,  from  which  it  is  our 
boast  to  have  descended,  a  ratification  of  them  would  cause 
great  uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  many  members  of  the  Church, 
and,  in  great  probability,  cause  dissensions  and  schisms. 
Your  memorialists,  having  an  anxious  desire  of  cementing, 
perpetuating,  and  extending  the  union  so  happily  begun  in 
the  Church,  with  all  deference  and  submission,  humbly  re- 
quest and  entreat  the  General  Convention  now  soon  to  meet, 
that  they  will  revise  the  proceedings  of  the  said  late  Conven- 
tion, and  remove  every  cause  that  may  have  excited  any 
jealousy  or  fear,  that  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America  has  any  intention  or  desire  essentially  to 
depart  either  in  doctrine  or  discipline  from  the  C/liurch  of 
England  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  convince  the  world  that  it 
is  their  wish  and  intention  to  maintain  the  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel  as  now  held  by  the  Church  of  England,  and  to  adhere 
to  the  Liturgy  of  the  said  Church,  as  far  as  may  be  consistent 
with  the  American  Pevolution,  and  the  Constitutions  of  the 
respective  States  :  thereby  removing  every  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  obtaining  the  consecration  of  such,  and  so  many  per- 
sons to  the  E^jiscopal  character,  as  shall  render  our  ecclesiastical 
govermnent  complete,  and  secure  to  the  Episcopalians  in 
America  and  to  their  descendants  a  succession  of  that  neces- 
sary order.' 

"  Bishop  White,   in  his  '  Memoirs,' imputes  the  author- 


THE   CIIlTECn   IN   NEW   JERSEY.  55 


sliip  of  tills  Memorial  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Bradbury  Cluui- 
dler  ;  but  that  distino;uished  Divine  was  not  a  member  of  the 
Convention,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  committee 
which  prepared  it  was  composed  exclusively  of  laymen  ;  and 
the  following  extracts  from  a  correspondence  which  has  lately 
come  into  my  hands,  will,  I  think,  satisfy  any  one  that  Dr. 
Chandler  had  nothing  to  do  with  its  composition  ;  but  that 
James  Parker  or  John  De  Hart  wrote  it,  or  that  it  was  tlieir 
joint  production. 

"In*  this  State  the  Memorial  created  great  excitement. 
It  and  its  authors  were  at  once  attacked,  and  all  sorts  of 
motives  were  imputed  to  them.  On  May  25th,  Rev.  IJzal 
Ogden,  and  Patrick  Dennis  (who  had  been  the  only  two  rep- 
I'esentatives  from  this  State  in  the  General  Convention  which 
had  adopted  the  '  Proposed  Book  '),  united  in  a  long  letter  to 
tlie  Rev.  Dr.  White,  in  which  the  Memorial  and  its  authors 
were  attacked  in  strong  terms.  1  have  here  a  copy  of  this 
letter.  Mr.  Ogden  says,  '  The  rejection  of  the  proposed 
alterations  in  the  Prayer-book  was  so  disagreeable  to  some 
members  of  the  Convention  that  it  occasioned  them  to  with- 
draw from  it.'  June  23d,  Rev.  Abraham  Beach  wrote  to  Mr. 
l*arker,  '  Mr.  Ogden  is  very  confident  the  Jersey  members  to 
the  Ceneral  Convention  will  not  be  received,  on  account  of 
their  audacity  in  daring  to  hesitate  with  respect  to  the  new 
Prayer-book.  He  means  not  to  go  for  Jersey,  but  wishes,  1 
believe,  to  be  chosen  for  New  York.  Four  of  the  lay  dele- 
gates for  New  Jersey  must  absolutely  attend.  The  Conven- 
tion will  otherwise  think  they  are  ashamed  of  what  they  have 
done.'  June  Cth,  Mr.  Parker  replied  to  Mr.  Beach,  .'I 
wanted  a  copy  of  the  Memorial,  to  remove  some  prejudices 
that  were  imbibed  by  some  persons  of  consequence  in  the 
Legislature  at  New  Brunswick,  from  a  false  representation  of 
my  conduct  at  the  Convention.  They  even  went  so  far  as  to 
say  that  I  opposed  all  alterations  in  the  Liturgy  ;  and  that 
John  De  Hart,  myself,  and  others  that  were  principally  op- 
posed to  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention  at  Philadelphia, 
were  under  l)r.  Chandler's  direction,  and  tools  to  him. 
Those  of  the  General  Convention  who  were  either  opposed  to 
those  measures,  or  came  inadvertently  into  them,  cannot  but 
1)0  pleased  at  our  opposition  ;  and  the  proceedings  of  those 
who  had  any  design  in  what  is  done,  if  any  such  tliere  be, 
ought  to  be  counteracted.  No,  sir,  let  us  set  out  right,  and 
we  may  possibly  continue  so  ;  but  if  these  things  are  admit- 


56  CElSTTENlSriAL   OF   THE   OEGAlSriZATION   OF 


ted,  or  even  passed  over  from  a  false  delicacy,  or  any  other 
motive,  farewell  the  Episcopal  Church  of  America.' 

"  To  John  De  Hart,  his  friend  and  coadjutor  in 
the  good  work  then  in  progress,  Mr.  Parker  wrote  June 
11th': 

"  '  1  have  not  heard  a  word  from  you  since  we  kicked 
up  such  a  dust  at  the  Convention  ;  and  although  what  we  did 
there  has  had  a  considerable  influence  on  the  politics  of  the 
State,  and  has  principally  operated  against  me,  1  never  was 
hetter  pleased  with  any  transaction  of  my  life,  especially  as  I 
find  it  is  esteemed  of  nmch  more  consequence  than  I  thought 
it  at  the  time  ;  and  1  must  confess  it  is  very  flattering  to  me 
to  think  that  the  measures  we  adopted  are  likely  to  answer  all 
the  purposes  we  proposed,  and  are  to  be  followed  by  the  Con- 
vention at  l^ew  York.  Can  you  conceive  that  the  little  that 
was  said  in  our  Convention,  about  the  4th  of  July,  could  be 
the  foundation  of  a  report  that  I  had  absolutely  refused  the 
observance  of  that  day,  and  that  this  should  be  inade  use  of 
as  an  argument  against  the  alternate  meeting  of  the  Legislat- 
ure at  Burlington  and  Perth  Amboy,  and  for  fixing  it  at 
I^ew  Brunswick  ;  and  can  you  conceive  that  the  idle  story  of 
Dr.  Chandler'' s  infiuenGing  the  opposition  of  our  Convention 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Convention,  should  reach  so 
far  as  to  become  the  chit-chat  of  the  public  tables  at  Prince- 
ton and  New  Brunswick  ?  And  now,  my  friend,  since  we 
have  gone  on  so  far,  so  well  together,  let  me  entreat  you  to 
accompany  me  to  the  Convention  at  Philadelphia,  where  there 
will  be  much  to  be  done  to  secure  the  good  eifects  of  what 
seems  to  be  in  so  promising  a  way,  I  trust  you  will,  and  in 
this  hope  remain, 

"  '  Yours,  etc., 

' '  '  James  Paeker.  ' 

"  To  the  readers  of  the  Church  history  of  that  day,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Chandler  is,  of  course,  well  known,  but  to  others  it  maybe 
proper  to  say  that,  while  he  Avas  one  of  the  jDurest  and  best  men 
of  his  time,  he  was  very  unpojiular  because  of  his  jpoUtical 
views.  Not  a  word  was  ever  breathed  against  his  personal  or 
religious  character.  He  had  fought  for  the  Church  in  the  col- 
onies all  his  life  ;  but  he  was  a  devoted  Loyalist,  and  when  he 
came  back  from  England,  and  attempted  to  othciate  in  his  old 
church  (St.  John's,  Elizabeth),  the  grandfathers  of  our  peace- 
ful friends,  ex-Chancellor  Williamson  and  Mr.  W.  W.  Thomas 


THE   CHURCH   IX   XEW   JERSEY.  57 


(who  represent  tliat  parish  here  to-day),  interfered  and  escorted 
their  old  rector  to  the  door. 

"  The  action  of  the  hxynien  in  the  Convention  of  Xew 
Jersey  emboldened  others  in  otlier  States,  and  there  came  to 
the  next  General  Convention  siicli  a  voice  of  remonstrance 
against  the  'Proposed  Book,'  tliat  no  fnrtlier  effort  was 
made  in  its  behalf  ;  and,  by  common  consent,  it  went  into 
obscnrity,  and  remained  thereafter  as  mnch  a  literary  cnrios- 
ity  as  Dr.  Johnson's  '  Taxation  without  Ttepresentation  no 
Tyranny,' until  the  so-called  '  Tteformed  Episcopalians  '  ex- 
humed it  a  few  years  ago,  and  tried  in  vain  to  put  life 
into  it. 

"  "What  I  have  read  shows,  I  think,  that  to  the  laymen  of 
New  jersey  we  largely  owe  the  first  efforts  to  bring  the  Church 
in  the  United  States  into  national  unity  ;  the  call  of  the  first 
General  Convention  and  the  measures  it  adopted,  and  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  integrity  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

"  In  those  days,  courage  and  a  strong  will  to  do  the  right 
were  required  to  face  the  unpopularity  and  suspicion  which 
all  who  stood  up  for  the  Church  were  sure  to  encounter. 

"The  work  then  begun  has  spread  its  influences  over  a 
whole  continent,  then  almost  unknown. 

"Laymen  of  New  Jersey,  see  ye  to  it  that,  should  danger 
and  unpopularity  menace  the  Church  of  your  day,  ye  are  as 
sturdy  in  her  defence  as  those  few  but  resolute  laymen  of 
New  Jersey  were  a  hundred  years  ago." 

The  Rev.  B.  Franklin,  D.D.,  Eector  of  Christ  Church, 
Shrewsbury,  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  hour  declined  to 
speak,  but  by  unanimous  recpiest  consented  to  do  so  at  the 
Annual  Convention  the  next  day,  when  he  said  : 

"  The  Church  of  America  in  the  future  is  the  subject 
which  inspires  my  thought.  jSot  a  new  Church  to  be  evolved 
out  of  some  abstract  energy  of  goodness  and  truth,  implanted 
as  a  germ  within  and  evolving  as  a  force  from  without  Chris- 
tianized souls  ;  but  the  One,  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church 
of  all  the  past,  of  all  the  Christian  ages  !  The  current  of  mod- 
ern thought  is  propelled  by  the  too  common  idea  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  a  self-existent  abstract  energy  of  goodness 
and  truth.     This  energy  is  supposed  to  lie  at  the  spring  of  all 


58  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   ORGANIZATION   OF 


progress,  and  to  liav^e  in  itself  j^ower  to  ev^olve  its  own  organ- 
izations ;  or  to  change  wholly,  or  in  any  partienlar,  wliatev^er 
organizations  may  have  descended  throngli,  or  arisen  at  any 
period  in  the  long  past.  We  believe  not  in  the  existence  of 
any  such  abstract  energy. 

"  The  philosophic  basis  of  Christianity  (and  we  grant  the 
necessity  of  a  philosophic  basis  for  every  system  of  belief),  is 
the  primary  fact  of  all,  being  the  universal  axiom  and  the  one 
starting-point  of  thought.  Personal  Existence.  '  Moses 
said  unto  God,  Behold,  when  I  come  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  and  shall  say  unto  them,  The  God  of  your  fathers  hath 
sent  me  unto  you  ;  and  they  shall  say  to  me.  What  is  His 
name  ?  what  shall  I  sav  unto  them  ?  And  God  said  unto 
Moses,  I  AM  THAT  TaM  :  and  He  said,  Thus  shalt  thou 
say  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  1  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you ' 
(Ex.  8  :  18,  14). 

"  Here  Christianity  takes  its  stand.  It  antagonizes  mod- 
ern thought  at  the  very  beginning,  by  denying  its  '  axiom,' 
and  claiming  that  I  AM  is  the  true  and  only  real  basis  of 
thought  and  being.  And  yet  Cln-istianity  is  no  enemy  to 
human  progress.  It  has  the  deepest  sympathy  for  modern 
progress.  It  is  abreast  the  age,  even  in  this  America,  which 
is  placed  in  the  van  of  modern  progress.  We  look  forward 
with  exulting  hope  to  the  evolution  of  the  Church  in  America. 
We  would  gladly  call  her  The  American  Church.  By  '  The 
Church '  we  mean  that  definite,  historic  ''  One,  Holy, 
Catholic,  and  Apostolic  Church,'  which  was  put  into  form  by 
'  the  Word  of  God  ; '  which  was  and  is  vivified  by  '  The  Lord, 
and  Giver  of  Life,'  whose  philosophic  basis  is  The  Personal 
Existence,  which  was,  is,  and  ever  will  be,  because  her  founda- 
tion and  support  is  the  source  of  all  being  and  the  preserver  of 
all  evolving  energy,  the  One,  Great,  I  AM. 

"  Here  we  stand  in  the  Churcii.  Here  we  are  to  uphold 
and  set  her  forth  as  the  Household  of  God,  with  doors  wide 
open  for  the  inflow  of  men  and  women  and  little  children  in 
this  great,  progressive,  American  nation.  We  believe  in 
America.  We  believe  that  she  has  a  definite  work  to  do'  in 
the  advancement  of  mankind.  We  are  not  blind  to  her  faults. 
Especially  do  we  feel  the  force  of  lier  pride,  her  self-confi- 
dence, even  of  her  vanity,  of  her  disposition  to  reject  all 
authority,  and  of  her  growing  self-will.  Let  her  enemies 
dwell  on  her  faults,  and  lash  her  with  their  cunning  carica- 
tures and  l)itter  satire.     They  may  do  her  good.     But  we  are 


THE   CIIUKCH   IN"   NEW   JERSEY.  59 


not  her  enemies.  "We  see  this  people,  as  a  people  beloved  of 
God.  "\Ye  see  noble  and  2:odlilve  characteristics  in  them. 
'  God  who  so  loved  the  Avorld  that  Tie  gave  His  Only  ]]egot- 
ten  Son,'  has  given  that  Son  to  America  ;  and  it  is  the  nu'ssion 
of  the  Church — onr  mission  now,  my  brethren — to  hold  up 
'  the  true  Light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world  '  (St.  John  1  :  9),  in  order  that  we  may  show  to  this 
jseople  the  way  into  the  Household  of  God. 

''  It  is  not  only  a  household,  it  is  '  the  Ark  of  God  ;  '  the 
Ark  destined,  it  may  be,  '  to  ride  the  sea  of  fire.'  AYe  know 
not  what  shall  be  the  specific  fortunes  of  the  American  Church, 
Would  God  that  she  might  gather  in  all  this  people,  with  their 
children  and  their  children's  children  ;  but  we  know  not  who 
will  hear,  we  know  not  who  will  forbear.  Let  no  definite  ex- 
pectation of  results  cloud  our  faith,  or  clog  our  hopes.  The 
Church  in  the  past  has  ever  been  the  '  Little  Flock  '  (St.  Luke 
12  :  32).  This  is  a  great  mystery.  It  tries  our  faith  even  to 
think  of  it.  '  TJie  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ  ! '  (Rev.  11  :  15). 
We  read  this  as  prophecy.  We  also  read  history.  Believing 
the  prophecy,  we  bow  our  heads  in  trustful  faith.  Reading 
and  making  history,  we  wait.  We  must  not  wait,  however, 
in  idleness,  nor  should  w^e  go  forth  to  our  work  presumptu- 
ously, n)uch  less  impatiently.  God  knows,  we  do  not,  what 
His  honor  demandeth,  and  what  men's  souls  rerpiire.  We 
may  not  count  up  our  gains,  nor  dwell  unduly  on  signs  and 
marks  of  progress.  The  Great  Consummation  includes  too 
many  and  too  intricate  items  for  us  to  compute  as  we  go. 
Leave  statistics  for  delvers  in  rubbish.  Let  us  start  on  the 
strong  foundations  of  true  ideas.  They  will  be  found  living 
stones  as  well.  They  are  the  solid  and  permanent  things  in 
upbuilding  progress.  God  !  Christ  !  the  Church,  which  is 
His  Body  !  These  are  ideas,  but  oh,  wdiat  reality,  strength, 
energy,  and  power  are  in  them  !  Whatever  results  we  may 
see  or  think  we  see,  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  our  faith. 
Even  though  the  American  Church  be  and  continue  to  be  '  the 
Little  Flock,'  this  we  know  she  is  the  flock  of  which  Jesus  is 
the  she]>lierd. 

"  While,  however,  adhering  to  the  historic,  organic 
Church,  which  cometh  down  from  Jesns — the  I'isen  God-Man 
• — in  unbroken  succession  along  the  ag(is  ;  let  us  keep  our  eyes 
wide  open  to  recognize  Llim,  in  all  who  show^  the  presence  of 
His  Spirit,  and  let  our  hearts  rejoice  in  any  manifestation  of 


60  CENTENNIAL   OF   THE   OEGANIZATION   OF 


the  love  'wliicli  is  of  Him.  Let  lis  be  cliurclimeii  not  Avitli  the 
spirit  of  exchisiveness,  but  of  inchisi  veil  ess.  We  believe  and 
are  assured  that  sound  philosophy,  true  doctrine,  and  pure 
religion  are  enshrined  in  their  completeness,  in  the  American 
Church.  She  is  intrusted  to  us.  We  do  not  own  her.  She 
owns  us.  We  should  be  as  large  as  she  is,  or  rather  we  should 
pray  and  strive  so  to  be  enlarged,  that  while  we  stay  in  her 
and  go  not  out,  we  may  earnestly  sympathize  with  and  rejoice 
in  any  good,  any  truth,  any  love,  and  any  devotiou,  that  may 
anywhere,  at  any  time,  shoot  up  amid  the  darkness  of  this 
fast  departing  night  of  '  the  mystery  of  iniquity.' 

"  Our  philosophic  and  theologic  position  is  a  definite  one. 
It  is  comprehensive  because  it  is  Catholic,  so  large  that  it  may 
include  all  '  men  of  good  will,'  so  complete  that  it  can  em- 
brace or  rather  ingraft  the  whole  body,  soul,  and  spirit  of 
every  '  man  of  good  will,'  providing  ample  means  for  personal 
deve]o])ment  inwardly  and  outwardly,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
tlie  band  of  unity  is  spread  around  whatever  multitLides  may 
come  in  with  us,  knowing  that  God  is  with  us. 

"  The  Church  of  Christ  is  the  appointed  teacher  of  His 
truth  to  all  nations.  The  American  Church  is  api)ointed — 
just  as  truly  appointed  as  if  the  voice  of  her  Lord  sounded 
now  audibly  in  her  ears,  and  in  those  of  all  people — to  pro- 
claim His  truth  to  this  nation.  She  has  no  more  right  to  for- 
bid any  who  promulgate  truth,  than  had  the  disciples  whom 
Jesus  rebuked.  We  can  afford  to  rejoice,  and  ought  to  thank 
God,  with  the  ajDostle  that,  '  notwithstanding  every  way, 
whether  in  pretence  or  truth,  Christ  is  preached  '  (Phil. 
1  :  18). 

"  The  truth,  in  its  didactic  form,  is,  however,  only  part 
of  the  trust  committed  to  the  Church.  She  is,  in  very  con- 
stitution, the  living,  organic  Body  of  the  indwelling  Christ. 
He  yet,  alone,  is  '  the  Baptizer  with  the  Holy  Ghost  '  (St, 
John  1  :  33).  '  The  Giver  of  Life  '  bestoweth  life  in  sacra- 
ment. Her  High  Priest  is  ever  presenting  the  offering  of  the 
one  Sacrifice.  Priests,  under  Him,  make  the  memorial.  He 
feeds  His  people  now  with  the  '  true  bread  from  heaven  '  (St. 
John  6  :  32),  which  the  Father  giveth.  Doctrine,  discipline, 
and  worship  are  the  threefold  strands  of  unity.  Truth  !  The 
Body,  living,  organic,  one  in  past,  present  and  future  !  The 
spirit  of  love,  rising  devoutly  to  God  in  both  i^rivate  and  com- 
mon prayer  or  praise,  and  going  out  through  all  that  is 
human,  with  largest,  sweetest,  tenderest  charity  ! 


THE   CHURCH   IlSr   NEW   JERSEY.  61 


"  Glorious,  indeed,  is  onr  lieritage.  hretliren.  Let  us 
cling  to  it,  with  a  loyalty  that  shall  stand  the  stress  of  this 
magnificent,  but,  I  fear,  iingodly  era.  Great  is  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  us.  Let  us  take  it  from  God's  hand,  and  discharge 
it,  as  they  who  count  all  things  loss,  if  they  may  but  win 
Christ.  Some  of  us  have  had  long  experience  in  the  progress 
of  the  American  Church.  Will  you  bear  with  me,  who  am 
one  of  the  oldest  priests  among  yon,  if  1  descend  a  little  to 
personalities  ?  For  rather  more  than  two  fifths  of  the  century 
I  have  worked  and  waited  in  the  priestly  office.  All  that 
time,  two  strong  emotions  have  been  driving  whatever  energy 
1  possess.  Love  of  Country  and  love  of  the  Church,  have 
both  been  strong  forces  within  me.  They  are  yet,  and  now, 
as  ever,  they  work  together  in  reciprocal  harmouy.  Nothing, 
I  verily  believe,  could  be  better  for  America,  than  that  the 
American  Church  go  forward,  throughout  all  her  wide  bor- 
ders, and  everywhere  gather  the  people  into  the  family  of 
God.  Nor,  as  I  humbly  think,  has  any  nation,  in  any  era, 
presented  an  equal  field  for  the  spread  of  '  the  faith  once  for 
all  delivered  to  the  saints  '  (St.  Jude  3).  1  utter  no  prophecy 
as  to  the  specific  aspect  of  the  coming  victory  of  the  Faith. 
That  victory  is  sure.  Men  are  to  win  it.  You,  especially,  my 
younger  brethren  in  the  priesthood,  are  to  bear  the  brunt  of 
the  co]ning  strife.  My  personal  experience  verifies  the  Divine 
word,  '  I  will  show  him  how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for 
My  ISTame's  sake. '  Look  not,  therefore,  for  apparent  success  ! 
Be  not  dismayed  by  aj)parent  failure  !  Lift  up  your  hearts  ! 
Though  the  time  may  be  long,  of  this  be  assured,  when  all 
shall  be  over,  then.  Rest." 

At  5  P.M.  another  large  congregation  assembled  in  Christ 
Church,  where  Evening  Prayer  was  sung  by  the  Rev.  H.  H. 
Oberly,  M.A.  ;  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Joyce,  S.T.B.,  reading  the 
Lessons.  About  fifty  vested  choristers  aided  in  this  service. 
The  processional  was  Hey  wood's,  "  Forth  to  the  Fight,  ye 
E-ansomed,"  the  special  Psalms  05,  GO  and  07,  were  sung  to 
Gregorian  tones,  the  anthem  was  Calkins's,  "Rejoice  in  the 
Lord,  Ye  Righteous,"  the  retrocessional,  Smart's  "Light's 
abode,  celestial  Salem." 

The  music  at  all  the  services  was  marked  by  great  pre- 
cision, both  in  time  and  tune  ;  the  organist  playing  his  accom- 


62     ORGAlSriZATIO]^   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN   NEW   JERSEY. 


paiiinients  witli  taste  and  skill.     More  general  or  hearty  sing- 
ing- on  the  part  of  congregations  is  seldom  if  ever  heard. 

The  next  day,  at  the  Annnal  Convention  of  the  Diocese 
of  ^ew  Jersey,  held  in  the  same  place,  a  committee  w^as  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  for  publication  an  extended  account  of 
tliese  proceedings,  which  is  accordingly  submitted. 

George  Morgan  Hills,  Chainncm.     ' 


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